The U.S. House of Representatives has recently passed legislation that will delay the passport requirement at United States land borders until 2009. The passport requirement for arrival by air will still go into effect January 2007. This move seems to indicate that the U.S. understands the burden this requirement would have placed on other countries and also on U.S. border towns. Government officials and business groups in U.S. border towns lobbied hard to get the passport requirement delayed over fears that restricting movement across the border would hinder tourism and dampen cross border commercial trade.
I think this is a good move as it will give all parties involved a change to come up with an efficient system that will both meet security requirements and ease movement across the border.
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