Senators: Feds Overcharge For Passports
State Dept. May Have Collected $111M More In Fees Than Costs; Base Price Is $97
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(CBS/EARLY SHOW)
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Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the State Department and Postal Service quietly gouged U.S. citizens over the government's $97 passport fees, even as new anti-terrorism laws require more travelers to carry passports. They are asking the Bush administration for an accounting of where the passport profits go.
Over the past year, as the government issued nearly 14 million new passports, it collected at least $111.4 million more in passport fees than its stated costs, according to calculations by The Associated Press based on figures from State Department and congressional investigators.
The government's standard $97 fee is just a start for some people. The State Department offers to send travelers a passport in a hurry for an extra $60 plus overnight delivery costs. Some private companies offer speedy service for $180 or more. Passport photos typically cost $15.
Since 2005, a new passport has cost $97 for adults, $82 for children under 16. At the senators' request, congressional investigators studied whether a $30 portion of that charge was justified.
The $30 is intended to cover the cost of clerks examining and accepting passport applications at post offices, State Department passport offices, courthouses, libraries, municipal offices and universities.
This is not supposed to be a profit-making venture. They charge 30 bucks just for passing something across the counter.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D."This is not supposed to be a profit-making venture," Dorgan said. "They charge 30 bucks just for passing something across the counter."
Robert Tollin of New York City, who received his passport in June just in time for his honeymoon in Mexico, was angry when informed how much the fee exceeded the costs.
"That's over a 200 percent markup," Tollin said. "Maybe I should be in the Post Office business. That's an exorbitant markup. I don't mind paying a service fee, but that's outrageous."
The remaining $67 is spent producing the passport booklet and for related costs, such as rent at passport offices, security guards and background checks. Investigators from the Government Accountability Office did not look into that portion of the fee.
A Postal Service spokeswoman, Joanne Veto, said the agency's $13.31 figure was not an accurate reflection of its costs when the fee was imposed. Congressional investigators, however, said that was the figure the Postal Service gave the State Department for use in setting the $30 fee.
The State Department said in a statement, "We aren't able to comment on GAO reports before they are officially released."
The department told the GAO it has hired a contractor to perform a new cost study of the fee before December 2008.
"It's sort of a tax," Schumer said. "Where did all the money go? What are they going to do to correct it?" Schumer and Dorgan have asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to determine whether fees should be lowered.
The reputation of the government's passport agency was severely tarnished during the summer, when a processing backlog by July left more than 2 million people waiting for passports. Officials said 500,000 were left waiting more than three months, trying to obtain what typically is ready in six weeks.
Vacations, weddings, honeymoons, business meetings, education plans and nonrefundable deposits all fell victim to the delays. People lost work time waiting in long lines.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 23 CommentsUSA not have enough stuff to see & do?
Losers!
Does any one, besides me, feel like we are in a time-warp? Give billions to Iraq and screw the American people for passports. Will Bush ever end!!!
They''ll just have to let Chuck Schemer and Byron Doogan remain on the case.
it cost me $90 for a passport in 1997.
Has nothing to do with Bush.
10 year US passport cost me $60 in 1997. I cant stop laughing that you overpaid. (HINT) It had everything to do with the worst Congress in US history that was destroying America from within from 1995-2006.
Posted by danstoned at 11:16 AM : Nov 02, 2007
I can''t stop laughing either and if you look at the post just after yours someone believed this clown who said they paid $90. God I wish if they were going to lie they would do it someplace were others who have an IQ of more than 5 would not be able to read it.
My God has this group done anything right in the last 7 plus years?
Please someone tell me just the fact to back it up too.
[Posted by crzmeat]
Not all overseas travel is vacation related. Even if you can afford a gallon of milk - no one has the right to charge you for 2 gallons.
it cost me $90 for a passport in 1997.
Has nothing to do with Bush.
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Posted by republic1776
So perhaps we''re just dealing with alarmists...period.
it cost me $90 for a passport in 1997.
Has nothing to do with Bush.
10 year US passport cost me $60 in 1997. I cant stop laughing that you overpaid. (HINT) It had everything to do with the worst Congress in US history that was destroying America from within from 1995-2006.
Posted by likeitis5050 at 10:51 AM : Nov 02, 2007
This took place back in 2002 - where was the oversight then - when Congress could have nipped it in the bud !!
so now SS is declared "insolvent" and in trouble and they do not return the Billions they stole.
Please post US your source of information (dissinformation?). YOU do not qualify as a legitimate source.
Has nothing to do with Bush.
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