WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Luetkemeyer (MO-03) led a letter with Missouri Congressional Republicans to United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urging the State Department to address the backlog and unacceptable wait times for obtaining a passport as Americans begin to travel internationally once again. Excerpts and the link to the full letter can be found below.

“Due to the unprecedented delays at Bureau of Consular Affairs, families are losing thousands of hard-earned dollars as they are forced to cancel international vacations for lack of passports. Many of these families submitted passport applications months in advance, only to get to their travel date without hearing a single word from the agency tasked with helping them. Our constituents consistently face wait times for person-to-person phone calls that far exceed 2 hours, and the online portal displaying application status updates is anything but up-to-date. On top of that, calls often go unreturned and questions unanswered when our offices contact the Bureau to help assist our constituents.”

“The United States has faced many challenges throughout the pandemic, and now is the time for the federal government to employ the practices and policies aimed at getting life back to normal. The pandemic has presented opportunities for the government to work for the people, and we must ensure it does so effectively.”

The full letter can be found HERE.

Background:
Congressman Luetkemeyer is also a co-sponsor of Congressman Lance Gooden’s (R-TX) Taxpayers Require Immediate Passports (TRIP) Act which would prohibit taxpayer funded travel for the Secretary Anthony Blinken until all passport agencies are reopened, passport wait times return to pre-pandemic wait times, and the Secretary submits a report to Congress outlining ways in which the process has been improved.