The recent news that the federal government was suspending rules requiring American airline passengers to have a passport to re-enter the United States from Canada and Mexico shows that it is premature to extend the same requirement to those crossing the border by car. Instead of rushing ahead with the passport requirement, the Department of Homeland Security should expand its examination of using driver’s licenses or other secure documents.

The Departments of Homeland Security and State announced earlier this month that they were suspending until Sept. 30 the passport requirement for travelers to and from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Carribean because a large backlog of applications meant some people waited months for passports. One woman in Washington said she missed a cruise, a 25th anniversary present from her husband, because the passport she applied for in March had yet to arrive.

The State Department, which blamed a third-party company that begins the processing and handles payments for part of the delay, said it was overwhelmed by applications since the law went into effect in January.

The department has issued more than 4.5 million passports between March and May, a 60 percent increase from the same time period last year. The average wait is now 12 weeks, up from six last year.

During the suspension, airline passengers must show a government-issued ID and proof that a passport has been applied for (a form that can be downloaded from the State Department’s Web site).

The Homeland Security and State departments released a proposed rule yesterday that would delay a passport requirement for land crossings into Canada and Mexico from January to June 2008. It is irresponsible for the department to go ahead with the rule when Congress is working to delay the land crossing passport requirement for 18 months to address staffing and other concerns.

Suspension of the airline requirements show that, at a minimum, the State Department is not ready for the increase in applications that will follow the land crossing passport requirement. It is also further evidence that further study of other options is a good idea.

Sen. Susan Collins successfully delayed implementation of those requirements and got the Department of Homeland Security to study other options. A pilot project on the use of enhanced driver’s licenses to meet the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Improvement Act is set to begin in Washington state in January. The department should not move ahead until the results of that project are known.

As Sen. Collins says, “It is critical that we strike a balance between the security of our nation’s borders and the free flow of commerce and travel.”

The necessity to suspend the air travel passport requirement shows the balance tipped to far away from the free flow of travel. Finding alternatives, that assure security while costing less, can restore the balance.