Passport: Yes? No?

More than two months ago, I reported that new passports and even renewals were taking up to 10 weeks, thanks to the Western Hemisphere passport initiative that practically required passports for travels farther than around the corner and the US Passport Agency's failure to prepare for the crush. Travelers who applied for but did not received their passports began complaining. The State Department and the Homeland Security Department, instead of cleaning up their act and managing, somehow, to catch up, have "temporarily" relaxed the passport requirement for air travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean.

So far, "temporary" is through the end of September. Government-issued identification, such as a driver's license, plus a receipt from a State Department website showing a person has applied for a passport will suffice. In other words, only people whose passport applications are in the works will be permitted to fly to those destinations. This latest example of government bungling and ad hoc repairs to the process seems to assume that the State Department is actually tracking the applications it has received. And, oh yes, passengers with those receipts can expect "extra scrutiny" from our friends at the Transportation Security Agency when they travel.

The passport people claim to have processed 12.1 million passports in 2006 and expect about 18 million in 2007. Didn't the agency anticipate a surge after the new regulations were passed? Evidently not. A State Department spokeswoman told reporters that the department hired 145 people last month to work to reduce the backlog and would hire 400 more this quarter. Gee. The backlog has been building all year, and they're finally hiring. Target turnaround times for passports have already been increased from six to as long as 12 weeks, but 500,000 applications have already taken longer, said the spokeswoman. And it's unlikely to improve soon.

There have been complaints to members of Congress, and those from both parties have been commenting to the media.

"They have got an awful mess that they can't handle and they're going to have to put this whole notion off for another year, If there is a mistake to be made, I'm sorry to say DHS will make it," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., whose district lies along the U.S.-Canadian border.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said Congress had given the State Department the flexibility to wait until June 1, 2009, to carry out the land and sea passport requirements. He strongly urged officials to wait "if it looks like what happened this summer becomes a possibility this winter."

"We've been in this situation since January, and I think every member of Congress' office has been flooded with emergency calls," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., wants the State Department to refund the $60 fee it collects for expedited applications, since many of those are also stuck in the backlog. "It's very simple — if you don't get the service you paid for, then the State Department should give you a refund," Schumer said.

Many citizens cross only to neighboring countries, the State Department is reportedly "still working on creating a cheaper, simpler "passcard" alternative for land crossings." Still working on it? Did no one anticipate this? This is the same administration that has anticipated little else, whether a big hurricane, the escalation in global warming or what would happen in the Middle East when Iraq became destabilized, so I suppose a Passport Agency screw-up shouldn't be a surprise. At least this one is mostly exasperating and easier to fix -- in theory, anyway.