The U.S. State Department has ordered certain public libraries nationwide to cease processing passport applications, disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has run smoothly for years.
Democratic and Republican members of Congress from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are pushing back, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month asking him to extend the existing program until Congress finds a permanent solution.
The lawmakers’ letter said people will have to travel long distances, take unpaid time off from work or forgo getting a passport when demand is surging due to Real ID requirements. If Republicans in Congress impose strict new voting rules, citizens could need their passport or birth certificate to register. People fearing immigration agents are also increasingly carrying passports to confirm their citizenship.
What’s frustrating is that these are the costs of corruption. This, or that time they sabotaged the postal system in order to try and stifle mail-in voting. Taking a system that’s working, and making it not work any longer, doesn’t make things better for anyone. It’s just overhead! It’s paying to knock down a functioning building, leaving nothing in its place, and then paying every month to maintain a fence around the rubble.
No one benefits from this, except some people that shouldn’t be in power get to stay in power, so they can keep doing stuff like this to stay in power, and no other person sees any growth, improvement, or value. That would cut into margins.
This is the standard mantra of the Republican Party - they claim “government doesn’t work”, then get into power and set out to make their childish little slogan the actual truth. Because they wreck everything.
And of course, all the Murc’s Law Media and reactionary centrists stand there and blame the Democratic Party for not fixing it fast enough when they get even the slightest amount of power. It’s even more infuriating when a lot of the left takes up the very same framing, which only helps the right.