DEAR LISTERS:
Copied from a post to another list:
I have just discovered that the SSA is raising the price by 286% for the
most
valuable tool that genealogists request, the SS-5 form, Original
Application for SS Number...
It is going up from its present $7 to $27, effective 1 July 2001.
Reference: <
http://www.ssa.gov/foia/foia_guide.htm#_Toc517745431>
This is untenable, since many people who do genealogy are older retired
folks on
fixed income... and this large increase appears to be intended to
discourage the public from access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act.
How can it cost $27 to receive a request, then make and mail a copy of the
one page
document??? ...Government is not intended to be making a
profit... The $7 seems high, when you actually evaluate the task...and
Researching costs more...Could it be that they have some awfully high paid
clerks...and/or interns...???
Since anything can be proven by statistics, I don't believe their
"analysis" but you might want to make your representatives in Congress
aware
of this...
Senate Addresses <
http://www.senate.gov/>
House Addresses <
http://www.house.gov/>
President George W. Bush: <president(a)whitehouse.gov>
Vice President Dick Cheney: <vice.president(a)whitehouse.gov>
Assistant-Secretary for HHS: <Sandra.Eubanks-Brown(a)hhs.gov>
JOAN