Sponsors
The bill eliminates standard passport-card fees to reduce costs for applicants (especially low-income and frequent travelers) but shifts funding responsibility to taxpayers or the State Department and risks slower routine processing unless replacement funding is provided.
Applicants for passport cards — especially low-income individuals, frequent travelers, and immigrants — will no longer pay the standard application or renewal fee for issuance or reissuance, reducing out-of-pocket costs for obtaining or renewing passport cards.
Travelers with urgent travel needs retain the option to pay an expedited fee so they can get faster passport-card processing when time-sensitive travel arises.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will likely absorb administrative costs previously covered by passport-card fees, or State Department resources will need to be reallocated to cover the shortfall, increasing fiscal pressure or forcing cuts elsewhere.
Routine passport-card applicants could face longer average processing times if fee revenue that supported operations is lost and not replaced, slowing issuance for non-expedited applicants.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates the standard fee the State Department charges to issue or reissue U.S. passport cards, while still permitting fees for expedited processing. The change removes routine passport-card charges for applicants but does not create new spending, reporting requirements, or specific appropriations.
Introduced March 4, 2026 by Lauren Underwood · Last progress March 4, 2026