NOTICE: The New York Passport Agency is experiencing severe delays. Be sure to renew your passports before booking travel. If you have already booked your travel and are concerned that your passport will not arrive on time, contact our Patchogue office at 631-541-4225 for assistance.

Andrew Calls On State Department To Address Passport Delays

Hundreds of Long Islanders have faced delays in receiving their passports in recent weeks due to a severe backlog brought about by understaffing at the New York Passport Agency. That's why this week, Andrew led a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Rena Bitter calling on the State Department to intervene, address these delays, and provide answers. While Andrew's team has been working diligently to help process passport applications and secure appointments at passport agencies outside of New York, the lack of responsiveness from the New York Passport Agency has resulted in New Yorkers having to cancel travel for family vacations, honeymoons, and even funerals.

The letter says in part, "Our offices lost contact with the New York Passport Agency over the past three weeks, resulting in a whirlwind of chaos and confusion that has forced constituents to cancel travel plans and lose thousands of dollars in nonrefundable costs. It was only after numerous complaints that we were able to connect with New York Passport Agency officials, although our backlog still persists...Our offices have been forced to make passport appointments for constituents at said agencies, ranging from Buffalo to San Diego, for passport applications already outside of processing times." The letter also urges the administration to take the necessary steps to mitigate the delays and calls for answers from the Department, including on how many employees the New York Passport Agency has dedicated to handling passport requests and how this number compares to July of 2022, how the Department plans to address the staffing shortages, and what steps the department has taken to address the backlog. Read the full letter here.

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House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and cyber subcommittee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) intend to focus heavily on regulatory streamlining in their oversight of the Biden administration’s new national cyber strategy implementation plan, the lawmakers said in a statement. 'We remain steadfast in our belief that the Biden administration must streamline existing regulations while working with the private sector to identify new opportunities for partnership rather than punishment,' Green and Garbarino said today. 'Implementation of this strategy must be a collaborative process that aims to ease regulatory burden while maintaining strong cybersecurity practices,' they said. 'We intend to exercise strict oversight on CISA’s efforts as the responsible agency for at least 10 initiatives and a contributing entity to at least 19 initiatives, as it continues to execute its federal cybersecurity and critical infrastructure resilience mission.'

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Read the full article here.

Patchogue

31 Oak Street, Suite 20

Patchogue, NY 11772

Phone: (631) 541-4225