I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4632 
To require the Secretary of State to submit a plan to eliminate the backlog 
of passport applications due to the COVID–19 pandemic, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2021 
Mr. CONNOLLY (for himself, Mr. KINZINGER, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of 
New York, Mr. BURCHETT, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of State to submit a plan to elimi-
nate the backlog of passport applications due to the 
COVID–19 pandemic, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Passport Backlog 
Elimination Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PLAN TO ELIMINATE PASSPORT APPLICATION 
BACKLOG. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act or October 30, 2021, 
whichever is later, after consultation with the appropriate 
congressional committees, the Secretary of State shall sub-
mit to such committees a plan, including the actionable 
strategies described in subsection (b), to ensure the cur-
rent backlog of passport applications due to the COVID– 
19 pandemic is eliminated in a timely manner in order 
to promote the national security and economic interests 
of the United States. 
(b) 
ACTIONABLE
STRATEGIES.—The 
actionable 
strategies described in this subsection are to— 
(1) eliminate the backlog of at least 1.4 million 
passport applications; 
(2) establish a timeline for the elimination of 
such backlog; and 
(3) ensure— 
(A) that the expected processing time 
for— 
(i) routine passport applications is be-
tween six and eight weeks; 
(ii) expedited passport applications is 
between two to three weeks; and 
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(iii) expedited passport applications 
for Federal Government personnel is not 
more than eight business days; 
(B) the safety of Department of State per-
sonnel and customers and compliance with all 
applicable Federal, State, and local health and 
social distancing guidelines; and 
(C) the ability for expedited service for ap-
plicants requiring a passport for purposes re-
lated to their employment. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 30 days after 
the submission of the plan required under subsection (a), 
the Secretary of State shall begin implementation of the 
plan to eliminate the backlog of passport applications due 
to the COVID–19 pandemic. 
(d) INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDIT.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Inspector General of the Department of State shall submit 
to Congress an audit on the elimination of the passport 
application backlog required by the plan required under 
subsection (a), and the Department’s actionable strategies 
described in subsection (b). 
(e) APPLICATION.—If by September 30, 2021, all 
passport applications received prior to June 15, 2021, 
have been processed and the Department of State has re-
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sumed accepting passport applications for routine and ex-
pedited processing, the provisions of this section shall not 
apply. 
(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘appro-
priate congressional committees’’ means the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Oversight and Re-
form of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Homeland Se-
curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 
Æ 
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