Bush wants passport rules revised for citizens returning from Mexico and Canada after '08.

By Edwin Chen
Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — President Bush has ordered State Department and immigration officials to look for a less burdensome way to secure the nation's borders than requiring U.S. citizens to show passports when reentering the country from Mexico or Canada.

Bush disclosed his action during a Thursday appearance before the American Society of Newspapers Editors convention here. He suggested fingerprint imaging as an alternative.

Many Americans can reenter the country now by showing only a driver's license. The president evidently was caught off-guard when officials at the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department announced the more restrictive rules April 5, to be implemented by 2008.

"When I first read that in the newspaper," Bush told the journalists, "I said, 'What's going on here?' I thought there was a better way to expedite legal flow of traffic and people."

Congress ordered tougher reentry rules as a part of the intelligence reform act, which Bush signed last December.

The planned rules would no longer allow Americans seeking reentry from Mexico or Canada to show only a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID card. Instead, they would need a passport or other specialized, secure document. Similarly, Canadians who have been able to enter the United States with driver's licenses would need a passport.

The proposals drew an outcry from the travel industry and others, who said the tougher restrictions would inhibit travel.

Since he learned of the proposed rule changes, Bush said, "I've told [Secretary of State] Condi [Rice] and the Homeland Security people about … seeing if there's some flexibility in the law that will allow, for example, finger imaging to serve as the so-called passport for daily traffic."

If the passport requirement were to stand, the president said, "it's going to disrupt honest flow of traffic."

On Social Security, Bush tacitly acknowledged that he had failed to rally the public behind his proposal to restructure Social Security. But he also expressed his determination to press his case around the country, and suggested that those who opposed his efforts would pay a price at election time.

"I'm absolutely convinced that, when it's all said and done, inaction will create a political problem for people," the president said.

He conceded that his energetic push for a Social Security restructuring had not made him "a popular fellow on Capitol Hill," but he said he would not relent. Bush is proposing that younger workers be allowed to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into private stock and bond accounts, in return for giving up a portion of their traditional benefits. He has cast the private accounts as part of a broader, still-undefined plan to shore up the finances of the Social Security system.

"I enjoy talking on the issue," Bush said. "I appreciate calling people to action. I like doing it. And the more resistance I find for people to protect the status quo, the more determined I am to continue building the case."

Congress is unlikely to act, Bush said, "until the people say clearly, 'There's a problem, and what are you going to do to fix it?' " He said he was encouraged by signs of "a little movement" on the issue on Capitol Hill. The president is scheduled to travel to Ohio today to host a discussion on the issue.

Asked about the travails of House Majority Leader Tom Delay, Bush said only that his fellow Texan had been "a very effective leader" and that he was "looking forward to working with Tom."

DeLay has faced questions recently about the funding of foreign trips he has taken, and about other ethics-related matters. He has denied wrongdoing.

Bush seemed more at ease than usual during his hourlong appearance before the nation's top newspaper editors. In a rare departure from past practice, he spoke without notes, delivering his sometimes expansive remarks entirely off the cuff.

Barraged by questions about the Freedom of Information Act and the public's right to government documents, Bush at one point turned personal.

"I've always believed in open government," he said. "You know, I don't e-mail, however. And there's a reason. I don't want you reading my personal stuff. There has got to be a certain sense of privacy.

"You know, you're entitled to how I make decisions. And you're entitled to ask questions, which I answer. I don't think you're entitled to be able to read my mail between my daughters and me."

Without explaining why, Bush also said he was finding himself these days to be "much happier" than he'd been in a long time.