Nevertheless, in January, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner announced the agency was officially proposing to raise 30 different fees. INS is in a Catch-22 situation, Meissner said. We want to improve our services, and we know our customers deserve better service, but in order to get there, we have to charge what it costs. Some applications now take an average of two years to process. INS implements uniform use of a process by which applications are sent directly to the agency s service centers, so that district offices can focus on conducting interviews.
New software is installed to ensure consistency in processing naturalization applications.
INS expects to meet these goals by late spring. But NAPA argued in its 1996 report that the advantages of a funding source that is not subject to the normal limits on discretionary accounts are so great that the difficulties pale in comparison. The core problem with the fee accounts as in managing other INS activities is inspiring a level of trust in Congress that will allow the agency to receive sufficient flexibility to manage its funds. Fighting Health Fraud Even for operations that are not fee-based, Congress has shown an inclination recently to approve new funding mechanisms. One such effort is the fight against fraud and waste in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.