H.R. 5700 — Introduced in House

I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5700 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 26, 2023Ms. Caraveo introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of State to develop and submit to Congress a strategy to improve the processing of passport applications. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Federal Assistance for Streamlining Travel Passports Act or the FAST Passports Act. 2. Strategy to improve communication relating to the processing of passport applications (a) In general Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall develop and submit to the relevant congressional committees a strategy to improve the processing of passport applications. (b) Matters To be included The strategy required by subsection (a) shall, within 360 days after the date of submission of the strategy, seek to achieve the following: (1) Improve communication within the Department of State, including among all passport agencies and centers, relating to the processing of passport applications. (2) Ensure that United states citizens and congressional offices inquiring on behalf of such citizens are able to contact the Department of State, including a passport agency or center, regarding the status of requests for passport applications and receive updates within a reasonably short period of time. (c) Relevant congressional committees defined In this section, the term relevant congressional committees means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.