Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) and their colleagues wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken concerning passport backlogs and delays.
According to the letter, residents of the states of Florida, Texas, Idaho, Wyoming, Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee have complained about this issue. The senators called the passport fiasco “unacceptable.”
“While we appreciate the hard work of the Passport Agency employees across the nation, this backlog and the unresponsiveness to many passport inquiries is unacceptable,” wrote the senators.
The inability of the State Department to withstand the increased number of passport applications “appears to need additional attention.”
“We understand that the Department of State is experiencing an unprecedented number of passport applications and renewals, but the strategies put in place to address this unprecedented demand appear to need additional attention,” the senators penned.
They would go on to mention that the delays have forced major inconveniences on Americans and their business and travel plans.
“These backlogs have resulted in many American families being forced to cancel their travel plans because of increased wait times, a lack of unavailable in-person appointments and an inability to communicate with passport agencies. Furthermore, the delay many Americans are experiencing in receiving their passport could potentially be detrimental to their livelihood.”
The letter concluded with the legislators quizzing Blinken and the State Department regarding their efforts.
The questions included:
“1. What measures are being taken to decrease processing and wait times?
- How does the Department plan to resolve the communications issues?
- How does the Department plan to permanently resolve these issues to avoid backlog in the future?”
Sen. Scott gave his statement following the letter’s public release.
With summer travel picking up, I'm hearing about passport delays from folks across Florida.
This is an unacceptable failure from a government that should be focused on serving American taxpayers and their needs, and I'm getting to the bottom of it.
Read more ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/u7kMdHmjoI
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) June 19, 2023
“With summer travel picking up, I’m hearing about passport delays from folks across Florida. This is an unacceptable failure from a government that should be focused on serving American taxpayers and their needs, and I’m getting to the bottom of it,” tweeted Scott.
Moreover, Secretary Blinken stated that the United States does not support Taiwan independence from China and that they support the “status quo.”
