Officials may face tough questions about visa waivers

Secretary of State Collin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge can expect hard-hitting questions when they testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about their request to extend a looming security deadline for citizens from key foreign countries wishing to travel to the United States, a committee spokesman and industry executive said.

Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the Judiciary panel and author of the legislation that set the Oct. 25 deadline, is expected to press the two secretaries about their efforts to meet the mandate over the last two-and-a-half years, the committee spokesman said.

"It's fair to say Sensenbrenner will have a hard line of questioning," concurred Rick Webster, director of government affairs for the Travel Industry Association of America, which supports the extension. "He has a number of questions he wants to ask the secretaries."

Countries in the "visa waiver" program, including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, have been telling U.S. officials for months they would not meet the mandate to include biometric features such as facial-recognition technology into travel documents by this fall. Webster said not extending the deadline would cost $10 billion to $15 billion for the U.S. travel industry.

And State Department officials have told lawmakers in previous testimony that consular offices overseas are not equipped to begin issuing 5 million to 6 million visas to the countries.

Webster said his group has heard that the chairman is inclined to support an extension but may not propose a two-year timeframe outlined by the two secretaries in a March 17 letter to Sensenbrenner. He wants to "keep them on a tighter deadline," Webster said.

Webster speculated that the panel would support an extension because the Bush administration earlier this month decided to begin enrolling citizens from visa-waiver countries into a new security system that tracks foreign visitors entering and exiting the country. Lawmakers have been pressing the Homeland Security Department, which oversees visa policy, to require the countries to participate in the program.

Webster argued that the policy change reflects a deal between the White House and Sensenbrenner to win congressional support and pointed to State's April 2 announcement tying the two issues together. "In the context of requesting this extension, [Homeland Security] will also begin enrolling visa-waiver travelers" through the foreign-visitor tracking system, a State spokesman said during the daily briefing.

The committee spokesman, however, declined to show the chairman's hand before Wednesday's hearing. "We're in the information-gathering stage," he said.

He said Sensenbrenner and panel members would base their decision on Wednesday's hearing and a March 22 letter the panel sent to most of the 27 visa-waiver countries to "determine whether legislation is needed to timely address this issue."

Sensenbrenner's first question to the countries' ambassadors presumably reflects his line of questioning for Wednesday's hearing. He asked if the State and Homeland Security departments provided the countries with "sufficient" and "timely information" about the new requirements.

The spokesman said the committee has received replies from more than half of the countries.