Postal Service and State Department gouged Americans on passport fees

And I thought getting a passport was a pain.  This is worse:

Sens. Byron Dorgan , D-N.D., and Charles Schumer,D-N.Y., said the State Department and Postal Service quietly gougedU.S. citizens over the government's $97 passport fees, even as newanti-terrorism laws require more travelers to carry passports. They areasking the Bush administration for an accounting of where the passportprofits go.

Over the past year, as the government issued nearly 14 million newpassports, it collected at least $111.4 million more in passport feesthan its stated costs, according to calculations by The AssociatedPress based on figures from State Department and congressionalinvestigators.

Good thing I got mine back in 2004.