GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Aug. 25, where we plan to go for a long break and hope you enjoy your last week of recess. SEE YOU IN A WEEK: Huddle will not publish next week as well as Monday, Sept. 4, in honor of the Labor Day holiday. We’ll return to your inboxes on Tuesday, Sept. 5, just in time for the next congressional work period. EVERYDAY FOLK ARE TRAVELING It’s the heart of Congress’ August recess, and Hill travelers have scattered throughout the country — and the world — with all the accompanying travel headaches to boot. All but the most local-to-Washington lawmakers are frequent flyers, making them extra attuned to the travails of air travel (you may recall a spat from earlier this summer about slots for long-haul flights out of Reagan National Airport). With members jetting around the country alongside their vacationing constituents, your Huddle hosts thought we’d highlight three big travel issues on lawmakers’ radar. Facial recognition technology: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) doesn’t like that the Transportation Security Administration might have your face registered in a database when you go through security, and he’d like to do something about it. The Oregon Democrat has legislation that would prevent the government from using that database for security purposes, a scenario that he likened to a “national surveillance system.” Merkley believes more Americans should be aware that this technology is being used in airports and also wants bigger and better signage alerting air travelers to the system. He’s posted a series of videos to Instagram highlighting what he says is inadequate signage at Reagan National about the program — especially its voluntary nature. “The current system seems to be working very well, of having the TSA agents look at your face and then look at your ID,” he said in an interview. “I would say there's been no demonstrated need to use facial recognition at the TSA checkpoints.” Merkley is not exempt from the more banal indignities of air travel, either. The senator recalled having to spend the night in an airport a few months ago after a series of canceled flights, first-hand experience, he said, of what the flying public deals with. “I did not tell (the airline) I was a senator,” he said, jokingly adding that “I have no doubt that I would have been treated exactly the same.” Passport backlog issues: International travelers haven’t been able to depend on predictable renewals of their passports, delaying trips overseas and frustrating flyers. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) has taken a lead role in pushing the State Department to speed it up after reporting that his office was handling up to 50 individual passport cases per day around July 4, forcing his office to reallocate staff to aid constituents. “I literally had to be able to move people off other responsibilities in my office just to be able to work on helping passport processing,” Lankford told us. “It is dramatically increasing the cost and the burden for individuals because the State Department's so far behind.” Longer term, Lankford is hoping to attach language to the annual defense policy bill — or another legislative vehicle — that would require the creation of an online tracking system for passport holders, let the department reassign staff to handle any backlogs and mandate no more than 12 weeks to process passport applications. Keeping families seated together: There’s bipartisan interest in requiring airlines to seat families with young children together on flights at no extra cost. The push has been led by Reps. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) and Spanberger in the House and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the Senate. A provision to that effect was included in the version of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that passed the House in July. Look for the issue to percolate further as the House and Senate work to reconcile the differences between their bills this fall. “Since [House passage], I’ve heard even more support from both Democrats and Republicans — who all agree that we should ban airlines from charging extra fees for parents to sit next to their kids during flights,” Spanberger told Huddle in a statement. “As a parent and as the representative of thousands of Virginia parents, I’m looking forward to this legislation finally passing — and I feel optimistic about its prospects in the Senate and its inclusion in the final version of the bill.” — Daniella Diaz and Anthony Adragna
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