GUY FROM PA

Congress is just doing our bidding. I sure don't want to pay a whole bunch more in taxes, do you? Many feel that way, and don't care enough about those instances of government inefficiency or ineffectiveness to prompt a greater willingness to pay more in taxes to provide more staff, or provide better technology to make processes more efficient, etc.

Why is it that problems are always blamed on government inefficiency? I am not 100% convinced all the laws passed by Congress are done at our (voters) bidding. The squeeky wheel gets the grease and those who yell the loudest usually get what they want and that is not necessarily to the majority's benefit.

I have just retired from 35 yrs of government service and I have witnessed many cases over the years where regulations (laws) have been passed and then we were told by the powers that be that they have no funds to do the enforcement. Everyone wants more service but not higher taxes. You can't have your cake and eat it too as the old saying goes.

We applies for renewals for our passports at our local post office. We applied for routine processing. Here is the time line:

Applied 4/24/07

Application received in Philadelphia 4/25/07

Check cleared bank on 5/2/07

Received passports today 7/25/07 (about 13 1/2 weeks).

I think it takes the same amount of time for new or renewals. The state department web site should be updated and state 14-16 weeks instead of

10-12 weeks. This seems more accurate.

I don't blame the people processing the applications. They are working under heavy pressure. I blame Congress for passing regulations and then not providing the funding and/or the personnel to operate the program properly.

So apply early if you need a passport, the backlog will probably only get worse as more people who didn't need passport before need them now.