WASHINGTON Bowing to pressure from President Bush, the Departments of State and Homeland Security have unveiled a new travel document for Americans who frequently travel back and forth between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico.

The proposed travel credential would be credit-card sized and less expensive than a passport, but it would serve the same purpose for Americans crossing the nations northern and southern borders.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, said the new card will be "like the kind of drivers license or other simple card identification that almost all of us carry."

Presumably the new card would satisfy Congressional demands that everyone entering the U.S. carry a secure identity document beginning Jan. 1, 2007.

In announcing the proposed document, Homeland Security officials indicated the card may contain a computer chip encoded with biometric data such as fingerprints and would be resistant to counterfeiting, but the department has made no final decision whether to include a computer chip or what other information should be included on the card.

The federal government will seek public comment later this year on the card, as well as the governments overall timetable for requiring more secure IDs for Americans traveling between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico.

Last September, the government asked for comment on a plan that would require passports beginning Jan. 1, 2007, for those arriving by air and sea, and on Jan. 1, 2008, for those arriving overland.

That plan caught flack from not only local chambers of commerce but also national organizations, including the United Motorcoach Association, and ultimately the president. Bush ordered a review of the timetable and passport requirement. Many individuals and organizations object to requiring passports as security documents because they are bulky, expensive and time consuming to obtain.

The card proposed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chertoff at a press conference last month would be inexpensive and in effect -- little more than an enhanced drivers license.

Currently, Americans need only a drivers license or birth certificate to return to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. Both documents are considered easy to counterfeit and some states even issue drivers licenses to nonresidents.

Two years ago, Congress instructed the Homeland Security and State departments to require a passport or other secure document.