WASHINGTON – Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, and Representative Peter Welch sent a letter to the Biden administration late Monday urging him to work with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow additional travel between the United States and Canada. With increased vaccination rates in both the United States and Canada, and updated CDC guidance for fully vaccinated Americans, the delegation urged the Biden administration to work with Canada to add additional essential traveler classes and to continue working toward fully reopening the border.

“We write to encourage you to engage with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to add additional essential traveler classes for those able to cross the border between the United States and Canada and to continue to work towards the appropriate milestones that would allow for the safe reopening of the border,” wrote Leahy, Sanders and Welch. “Families throughout Vermont, especially those in our border communities, have gone well over a year without seeing loved ones across the border… While negative economic and health impacts of this global pandemic are far from over, enabling more people to reconnect, work, and resume daily routines when it is safe to do so will go a long way to addressing these dual crises.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.