WASHINGTON – Some 75 members of the House – exponentially more than ever before – on Wednesday called for a quick reopening of the U.S.-Canadian border, a day after Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said the United States should reopen the border unilaterally on July 21 if Canada won't agree to do so.
Together, the two moves represented the most pressure Congress has put to bear so far to try to end the border closure. The crossing has been closed to nonessential travel since March 21, 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a letter to President Biden, those 75 lawmakers – led by Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, as well as Michigan Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga and Florida Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor – said the pandemic has eased to the point where cross-border travel can resume.
"Both governments should follow the science and drop all travel restrictions for travelers between the United States and Canada who are fully vaccinated travelers or provide proof of a negative PCR test," the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers made reopening the U.S.-Canadian border the lead item in a letter in which they called for a broader easing of U.S. travel restrictions involving other countries.
"The data and science show that the right tools are now in place to mitigate risk and safely begin to ease international entry restrictions, particularly as vaccination rates here in the U.S. reach a saturation point," the lawmakers wrote.
The letter to Biden was unusual in terms of the ideological diversity of the lawmakers who signed it. The signers included liberal Democrats such as Rep. Val Demings of Florida and conservative Republicans such as Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona. Several New York lawmakers, including Rep. Chris Jacobs, an Orchard Park Republican, also signed the letter.
Moreover, the letter signaled that a large number of lawmakers from all around the country are growing increasingly frustrated with the continuing travel restrictions. Previously, it often seemed that Higgins was fighting a lonely battle in the House to reopen the border, with only one or two other lawmakers signing onto each of his many efforts on the issue.
Higgins said media coverage of the border issue, combined with the fact that Europe is reopening to foreign travelers, prompted more lawmakers to get involved.
"Mostly I just think people are beginning to say: 'You know, what's going on here?' " Higgins said. "If you were following the science, as we all have been admonished to do over the past 16 months, it would point to a loosening of restrictions at the border."
That's what Schumer has been saying for months. And at an event in Sackets Harbor west of Watertown on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader ramped up his pressure for a border reopening.
“For over a year, we have been told to follow the science, facts and data," Schumer, a New York Democrat, said. "It’s time for the U.S. to do the same and finally take the first move in good faith to safely reopen the border to vaccinated Canadians."
Read the full story by Jerry Zremski here.
The U.S. should do that even if Canada continues to bar most Americans from entering the country, Schumer said.
"Without a binational plan in progress to reopen the border, the U.S. must move unilaterally to allow northern border communities, families and economies to fully recover from the pandemic," he said.
Higgins, along with Rep. Elise Stefanik, a North Country Republican, previously called on the U.S. to reopen its border to Canadians even if the Canadian government refuses to reciprocate.
The United States has been ready to ease its restrictions at the border for some time, U.S. sources have said, only to meet resistance from Canada.
On Monday, though, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck a rare optimistic note about reopening the border.
“We’re very hopeful that we’re going to see new steps on reopening announced in the coming weeks,” he said at a news conference in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. “We’re going to make sure that we’re not seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases because nobody wants to go back to further restrictions, after having done so much and sacrificed so much to get to this point.”
The border closure, extended on a monthly basis for 16 months and now due to expire on July 21 unless it is extended again, has been especially frustrating to people with loved ones or property on the other side of the border.
"I am a U.S. citizen with a Canadian fiancé and THE USA IS FAILING US and thousands of separated families!!!" Marcella Picone of Buffalo, a member of the group Families Are Essential, wrote in an email to elected officials on Wednesday. "You are torturing us! This is so inhumane!
