Byron Dorgan: “I know the manager of the bill and the ranking member are asking for amendments to be offered and considered. I wanted…”

“I know the manager of the bill and the ranking member are asking for amendments to be offered and considered. I wanted to do that. Very quickly, this amendment deals with the issue of whether to require passports for everyone entering and leaving this country at our borders. We have a common border with the country of Canada, over 4,000 miles. In my State of North Dakota, we have people moving back and forth across the border all the time. We have people who farm on both sides of the border, people with families on both sides of the border. At the Pembina port of entry, we have 100,000 people a month crossing the border. To require a passport for that is, in my judgment, far too burdensome. A passport now costs a $55 fee, a $12 security surcharge, and a $30 execution charge--a total of $97 to obtain a passport. I believe very strongly we do need border security, no question about that. That is important. But I think, especially with respect to day travel and common tourist and business practices across, for example, the United States-Canadian border, with which I am familiar, to require a passport for moving across that border is enormously burdensome. I hope we will not do that. The President, when asked about it, spoke to the American Society of Newspaper Editors and said: When I first read that in the newspaper, about the need to have passports particularly for day crossing--he is talking about the border--I said, what's going on here?…”