Congress seeks to delay border security rule

Devlin Barrett, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Congress is trying to further delay a new security rule requiring passports at all American border crossings next year.

Lawmakers say they hope to avoid a repeat of last summer's vacation-killing backlog of passport applications in the U.S. They say that under a major end-of-the-year spending bill to be voted on this week, the border passport rule would be moved back even further, to no earlier than June 1, 2009.

The Bush administration says it opposes the measure and still plans to go forward with implementing the planned passport rule next summer.

The Canadian government has been lobbying against the passport requirement, over fears it could hurt tourism and slow up cross-border commerce.

Earlier this year, U.S. officials put the first phase of its plan into effect, requiring Canadians, U.S. travellers and other visitors travelling by plane to carry a passport.

© The Canadian Press, 2007