Visa Waiver ProgramBill would expand Visa Waiver Program despite security concerns

U.S. Representatives Joe Heck (R-Nevada) and Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) have re-introduced the Jobs Originated through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act, which aims to create American jobs by expanding the nation’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to more countries. The JOLT Act was first introduced by Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) in 2012, but it has failed to come for a vote in the last two Congresses. If passed, the new legislation could attract as many as ninety-eight million more visitors to the United States, create a million U.S. jobs, and generate as much as $859 billion in revenue by 2020, according to Heck and Quigley.

“Increasing international travel opportunities and updating visa travel protocol will drive tourism dollars to cities across the country,” Quigley saidin a statement. “Now is the time to pass the JOLT Act and modernize the Visa Waiver Program, which will strengthen our national security and enhance relationships with important allies.”

The Hill reports that the existing VWP, launched in 1986, allows millions of people with (mostly) Western passports to travel to the United States for ninety days without a visa. It “positively impacts business travel, which accounted for an estimated $1.2 trillion dollars in global spending last year,” according to Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) executive director Michael McCormick.

Expanding the VWP to Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, Panama, Poland, Romania, and Uruguay has been a push for tourism groups.

Today, thirty-eight countries are included in the VWP, but with more than 3,000 European nationals flocking to Syria and Iraq to fight in the ranks of terror groups such as Islamic State (ISIS), expanding the VWP to more countries is a security concern. Counterterrorism experts already worry that many of those fighters with European passports could return back to Europe, then board a U.S.-bound flight with the intent of launching an attack on American soil.

Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) is uncertain about supporting the expansion of the VWP. Instead, he is open to refining the program to take into account terrorism concerns. “We should work diligently with our foreign partners to continually refine the program to ensure full compliance with membership requirements and ensure VWP travelers are fully vetted,” he said. “Doing so will ensure that the VWP will remain a viable trusted traveler program that provides many benefits to Americans while benefiting U.S. security.”

The U.S. Travel Association (UTA), which supports the JOLT Act, says the legislation would make the current VWP more secure while expanding it by:

• Amending the VWP to make mandatory several security requirements that are currently discretionary, including those related to airport security standards and a country’s air marshal program.
• Tightening passport requirements.
• Directing DHS to better integrate information from multiple U.S. government systems and databases in order to conduct more efficient vetting for VWP applicants.
• Amending the VWP to make mandatory several security requirements that are currently discretionary, including those related to airport security standards and a country’s air marshal program.
• Ensuring the Secretary of Homeland Security has the requisite authority to expand VWP to countries that fully meet all the security guidelines.

“The travel industry’s top priority is the security of our nation and travelers,” said U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow during a recent testimony before Congress. “We support effective reforms to the VWP like those in the JOLT Act which would both strengthen and expand the program. The VWP helps keep our country secure while facilitating international travel that adds billions in economic output and supports nearly one million jobs.”

Despite the terrorism concerns and failure to reach a vote in Congress last year, Heck is confident that the JOLT Act will be more successful this year. “I look forward to working with Rep. Quigley again to continue building broad bipartisan support for the JOLT Act and, hopefully this year we can move the bill to the floor,” he said.