H.R. 425 would authorize the Department of State to deny a passport or revoke an existing one for any U.S. citizen that the department finds has helped a foreign terrorist organization. The department would be required to report to the Congress each time it uses that authority.
The department has used broader authorities under current law to deny or revoke passports in such cases; the bill would provide overlapping specific authority. Citizens who have been denied a passport or had one revoked are entitled to an administrative hearing and the department bears the costs associated with such hearings. Those individuals may also choose to pursue legal action. Based on an analysis of information from the department, CBO expects that under the bill the number of passports being denied or revoked would not increase significantly. On that basis, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost less than $500,000 over the 2018-2022 period, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
In certain cases, citizens who have had a passport revoked may be issued a new, short-term passport to repatriate that person to the United States. In those instances, the citizen would still be required to pay the fees for a new passport. Some passport fees are deposited as revenues while others are retained by the department and spent. Thus, pay-as-you-go procedures apply because enacting H.R. 425 would affect direct spending and revenues. However, CBO estimates those effects would be insignificant because few people would be affected.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 425 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 425 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
