Two Senators Think Travelers Were Gouged Over Passport Fees

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A congressional investigation indicates that U.S. citizens may have been overcharged for their passports.

Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Byron Dorgan say the State Department and the Postal Service quietly gouged Americans over the government's $97 passport fee, even as a processing backlog ruined vacation, wedding and other travel plans.

At issue is a $30 portion of the fee intended to cover the cost of clerks examining and accepting passport applications.

Congressional investigators found that the fee was roughly double the actual cost when it was imposed in 2002.

And calculations show that this year, the government collected at least 111 million dollars more in fees than its stated costs.

The senators say passports shouldn't be used to make profits and they want to know where that money went.