U.S. diplomats took out an interestfree loan from the Moscow embassys community association to cover the payroll for Russian employees. In Cuba. the trucker who hauls drinking water to the U.S. interests section has refused to make any more deliveries until paid. Between 20.000 and 80.000 applications by foreigners for visas to come to this country are going unprocessed each day. creating a huge backlog of paperwork and infuriating prospective visitors. And in this country. more than 200.000 Americans are waiting for passports that cannot be issued. Such is life in the State Department in the third week of a partial government shutdown that has cut off the departments money and blocked almost all nonemergency spending. Senior officials yesterday described a mounting sense of crisis as undone paperwork piles up. the backlog of unprocessed visa and passport applications grows. travel plans are canceled and embassy officials scramble for funds to pay restive local employees. "We just dont have any cash." said Richard M. Moose. undersecretary of state for management. As long as suppliers and contractors are willing to extend credit for the few expenditures authorized. the State Department can get by.
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