The US Senate adopted on Tuesday a security-related bill that includes a Republican-supported amendment seen as a means to extend the visa waiver program to many countries including Romania, AFP reports. According to the amendment pushed by Senator George Voinovich (R), the United States should extend the visa waiver program to countries supporting Washington in its fight against terrorism.

The US visa waiver program is currently applied to 27 countries. According to the new measure, it may be expanded to Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and South Korea, says the AFP report.

The bill is part of a vast draft legislation aimed at applying the recommendations of an independent commission on the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But the White House is opposing it as it would significantly reduce the capacity of the Homeland Security Department to react promptly to security threats and would affect transport security in the US.