No Visa? No Problem. Sen. Thune Comes to the Rescue!

New family back from China, with Thune's aid
Glitch had delayed baby's homecoming

How satisfying would it be to take this sledgehammer to an inflexible bureaucracy:

"I called (Secretary of State) Condi Rice's chief of staff and said, 'I've got an emergency problem here. Can you help?' " Sen. John Thune explained of his role in breaking a logjam that was holding up visas for 96 families stranded in Guangzhou, China, last month. The families had gone to Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, to adopt children.

"When a senator himself calls, different things happen," says Lisa Richardson, who alerted Thune to the situation.