July 18, 2006
Rehberg Moves to Protect Montana Trade with Canada; Defeats Amendment Requiring Passport Entry
WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, in an effort to protect Montana’s Hi-Line communities that depend on trade with Canada, helped successfully defeat an initiative that would require all U.S. citizens seeking to enter Canada to posses a passport. Over 16,000 Montana jobs are supported by trade with Canada, according to recent estimates.
“The northern border needs to be shored up as part of a comprehensive border security plan, but requiring passports for Montanans that do business in Canada everyday is unnecessary. There are alternatives being considered by the Department of Homeland Security that will make a lot more sense for Montana,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “The folks that live up on the Hi-line rely on tourists from Canada and the good trading partners they have developed to create and sustain jobs. Endangering that relationship just doesn’t make sense.”
Close to half of Montana’s annual exports go to Canada and in 2004 alone, roughly 440,000 Canadian tourists visited Montana to fish or enjoy the state’s national parks. Currently, only about 20 percent of U.S. citizens have passports. Passports can take up to six weeks to get and cost almost $100.
“The Department of Homeland Security needs to work with Congress to find a reasonable alternative to this plan,” said Rehberg. “I know there businesses in northern border states across the U.S. that are concerned about this initiative and rightfully so. Canada has been the largest and most reliable U.S. trading partner for decades and we need to nurture that relationship, not make it contentious.”
Recent data shows $1.4 billion in trade and 300,000 people cross the U.S.-Canada border everyday.