Book overseas travel after getting your passport, says senator, amid 'unprecedented demand'
Sen. James Lankford says some constituents are experiencing even longer wait times than listed passport processing times, potentially derailing summer travel plans. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford is encouraging Americans to delay booking international travel until after receiving their passports as State Department personnel gear up for what is expected to be the busiest summer travel season on record. "During the time of COVID, it backed up to about 1.7 million passports in the backlog. We come out of COVID and they never caught up from there. We're now at 3 million in the backlog," Lankford said an interview with "GMA3" this week. Lankford previously called on the State Department to address the issue in letters sent to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020 and another to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2021. MORE: Helpful tips to deal with passport renewal, delays ahead of summer travel On March 24, the department updated its passport processing tim...