Press Conference held in the Congress concerning the Visa Waiver Program

Congressmen Dennis Kucinich (D – Ohio) and John Shimkus (R- Illinois) held a press conference with the Ambassadors of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic states today.

Ambassador of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Congressmen Dennis Kucinich and John Shimkus, Ambassador Simonyi, Ambassador Kacer of Slovakia, and the DCM of Lithuania

Congressman Kucinich called for expansion of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program to include the seven new member states of the European Union (EU) and NATO. He highlighted the importance of Visa Waiver Program expansion as “a necessary step to continuing friendship with our allies,” and called on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to renew her commitment to include the seven EU allies in the Program.

Congressmen Kucinich and Shimkus jointly drafted a letter to Secretary Rice, to be signed by other members of Congress, asking the State Department to include these seven EU allies in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program because, as Rep. Shimkus summarized, “it is just right and fair.”

Congressman Kucinich and Ambassador Simonyi