VIDEO: Ricketts Discusses Efforts to Ease Passport Backlog During Press Call

July 27, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) held a conference call with Nebraska media to discuss his work to ease the passport backlog. Included in the National Defense Authorization Act being debated in the U.S. Senate today are multiple provisions from the Passport Act, which he co-sponsored with Senator James Lankford (R-OK).

“The transparency and customer service provisions that got passed out of the Foreign Relations Committee are now in the National Defense Authorization Act that we are considering this week,” Ricketts said. “Tackling the lack of transparency is a solid step, but just a first step. There is more work we need to do. I am going to keep fighting the bureaucratic failures that got us here in the first place and do whatever I can do to fix it. Meanwhile, my team and I will keep doing everything we can do to help Nebraskans navigate Biden’s bureaucratic delays.”

“Newlyweds should not have to cancel their honeymoon because the federal government took more than three months to issue their passports,” Ricketts said.“ Nebraskans should not have to miss a family trip, funeral or family wedding because the federal bureaucracy can’t do its job in a timely manner.”

U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts discusses his efforts to ease the passport backlog

Watch the video here.

BACKGROUND ON THE PASSPORT ACT

First announced by Lankford last month, the Passport Act was formally introduced on July 11 with Ricketts as an original co-sponsor.

The Passport Act would address the current delays by:

Establishing a 12-week processing time requirement and refusing any remote work requests until the timeline can be met.
Requiring procedures to avoid processing backlogs in the case of future national emergencies.
Developing a reserve workforce that can be reassigned to support Passport Services during high demand.
Improving the online status tool to provide more information to applicants.
Adding a chat feature to National Passport Information Center (NPIC) call line.
Initiating an investigation into the quality of customer service, wait times, and technology failures of NPIC.
Expanding in-person appointments at regional passport offices.

Ricketts previously addressed the unacceptable passport backlog at a Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing in June. Video of that hearing is available here.

TRANSCRIPT OF RICKETTS’ OPENING REMARKS

Senator Ricketts: “I am proud of the progress we made as governor to streamline and simplify how Nebraskans interact with our state agencies. We delivered excellent customer service and improved turnaround times for permits requests and so much more. As Senator, one of my critical jobs is ensuring the federal government is doing things well for the American people, just like they’re supposed to do. One of those things would be constituent services.

“My office hears more about past the passport backlog than any other casework issue. Even expedited cases are taking three months in many cases now, and that is completely unacceptable. Newlyweds should not have to cancel their honeymoon because the federal government took more than three months to issue their passports. Nebraskans should not have to miss a family trip, funeral or family wedding because the federal bureaucracy can’t do its job in a timely manner.

“The Biden administration is failing to provide a basic government service. We recently had a committee hearing with Rena Bitter. She’s the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs where we discussed this massive, unacceptable backlog. I asked her specifically what her goal to process a passport application was. She had no goal. That’s why I worked with Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma to introduce the Passport Act to tackle this issue.

“I can tell you if you do not have a goal to be able to work back to you will fail. The Passport Act does a lot of things to attack the failures of Biden’s State Department that got us to this point in the first place to make sure it never happens again. It is time for the Congress to act, to step in.

“When you have Rena Bitter not even having a plan – and they don’t know how to get there to reduce this backlog – we have to step up. So what the Passport Act does is it establishes a 12 week processing time, requires that remote work requests be refused until that timeline can be met – and frankly, 12 weeks is pretty modest – requires the procedures and new training for reserve workforce to avoid this processing backlog in the future.

“It also tackles a lack of transparency and customer service at the State Department by requiring detailed status updates for passport applicants and creating a customer service chat feature. Now, a chat feature is something that a lot of businesses use to provide great customer service and having that detailed timeline that you can go on, say, an Internet website, and see at what stage your passport is will help let you know where you are in the process.

“The transparency and customer service provisions that got passed out of the Foreign Relations Committee are now in the National Defense Authorization Act that we are considering this week. Tackling the lack of transparency is a solid, but just a first step. There is more work we need to do. I am going to keep fighting the bureaucratic failures that got us here in the first place and do whatever I can do to fix it.

“Meanwhile, my team and I will keep doing everything we can do to help Nebraskans navigate Biden’s bureaucratic delays.”

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