Washington Wire - 1996-11-25
The State Department has launched a 900 telephone service for passport assistance and information.
Callers can access the National Passport Information Center's automated service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while a live operator is available from weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. The number is 900-CALL-NPIC (225-5674). Callers are charged 35 cents per minute to listen to automated messages and $1.05 per minute to talk with an operator.
Travelers may order forms from the NPIC or download the form from the department's Internet site at http://travel.state.gov. First-time applicants still must apply in person at one of the department's passport agencies, or at one of the more than 3,500 post offices or clerks of courts that accept passport applications.
<B>Automated Customs Checkin To Expand</B>
The Immigration and Naturalization Service's fast-clearance INSPass program will expand to eight more major airports beginning in January.
The system is in place at New York's Kennedy International, Newark International and at Terminal 3 in Toronto's Pearson for pre-clearance to the United States. Airports to be added are Miami, January 1997; Los Angeles, March 1997; Vancouver, April 1997; Honolulu, March 1997; Houston, May 1997; San Francisco, April 1997; Chicago, May 1997; and Montreal, June 1997.
Travelers from the United States, Canada and Bermuda who take international flights at least three times a year are eligible for the program, as are frequent travelers from countries participating in the U.S. visa waiver program. To use the system, travelers check in at an airport stand-similar to an ATM machine-after leaving the aircraft. They place a card in the reader, put one hand on the reader and key in their flight number. The system compares the traveler's hand geometry to the image taken at the time of enrollment. If identity is verified, a gate opens and the traveler proceeds to Customs.
Call INS at 212-206-6500 or 201-645-4400 for an INSPass application.
<B>Peña's Possible Successors</B>
A number of names have already surfaced as possible successors to Transportation Secretary Federico Peña, who will leave his post on Jan. 20, 1997. Among the expected front-runners are former Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles, who headed Clinton's National Airline Commission; Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater; former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard; former Texas Gov. Ann Richards; former Rep. Norman Mineta of California; and Bill Daley of Chicago, the brother of the city's mayor, Richard Daley.
Peña gave no hint of his future plans, saying only that, "after 16 years of public service, it's time for me to find new challenges in the private sector."
Meanwhile, Deputy Administrator Linda Daschle has assumed the top post at the Federal Aviation Administration after the resignation of David Hinson following President Clinton's re-election. She is serving on an acting basis until Jan. 31, when she, too, will leave the agency. Daschle is rumored to be in line for another administration post.
<B>Easing Travel For The Disabled</B>
The Department of Transportation has released final rules intended to improve the ability of disabled travelers to fly on commercial aircraft with 19 to 30 seats. While the regulations take effect at the end of November, small airports have up to four years to comply by purchasing special boarding devices. Larger airports must have the boarding assistance devices available within two years.