WASHINGTON (AP) - A problematic new passport requirement for all those crossing the U.S. border with Canada may be eased with a family discount-card program and a day-pass option, authorities said yesterday.

Such options are welcomed by towns and cities along the border where folks chafe at the notion they will someday need a $97 passport or $50 ID card to cross, but the day-pass proposal worries those seeking tighter security to deter terrorists.

"My concern would be, is the government in the travel business or the business of protecting our borders?" said Debra Burlingame, a member of 9/11 Families for a Secure America.

Lawmakers along the border have been pushing the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State for months to come up with a cheaper, quicker alternative to the passport requirement, which is to go into effect in 2008 under a new law called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

A new passport costs $97, and government officials have indicated they are working on a second option - a new wallet-sized identification card for crossing the border may cost about half of that. Even at half price, the card has done little to mollify open-border advocates.

Officials at both agencies said yesterday they are also considering a family-discount price for the pass cards and day passes for spontaneous border trips.

"It shows that after all of our pushing, they are beginning to understand the Canadian side of the border, and how it's part of our economy," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

The Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for border security, and the Department of State, which is responsible for issuing passports, are working together on the WHTI program passed by Congress as a post-Sept. 11 security measure.

The WHTI will require passports or one of four other secure documents at land border crossings. Previous law required Americans returning home from Canada to show only a driver's license or other government-issued photo identification card.

Officials on both sides of the northern border argue the passport rule would reduce trade and leisure travel between the two countries. The U.S. government, however, maintains it is necessary to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

Jarrod Agen, a DHS spokesman, said the agency is considering a day pass because "we see that there's definitely a need for a convenient and less expensive alternative to the passport."

Agen said the details of how, where, and what it would cost to get a day pass had not been worked out.

That raised alarm bells with security advocates who fear it could undermine the very purpose of the passport rule.

"When the United States government tries to do things like expediting and making things easier for people, they create a pretext for letting in illegal immigrants," said Burlingame, whose brother Charles was a pilot aboard the hijacked plane that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, (D-N.Y.), said the debate over alternatives to the passport requirement are part of a bureaucratic fight between the departments of Homeland Security and State over the rules of the program.

"I think a family discount for the cards is a great idea, but there's also a war between State and DHS here over who does what. State is not going to let DHS determine who is going to be a citizen of the United States, and DHS is trying to do the card they want to do," she said. "Personally, I would like very much to have State do it and get it over with."