It looks like this bill can really pass. It is to be regretted.
Congress set to pass strict driver's-licenses bill
By Charlie Savage The Boston Globe
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2005
WASHINGTON Congress is poised to pass a law that would make sweeping changes to the nation's system for issuing driver's licenses by imposing stringent requirements on states to verify the authenticity of birth certificates, Social Security cards, legal residency visas, and bank and utility records used to obtain a license.
House Republicans attached the bill to a must-pass supplemental spending package for troops in Iraq without first putting it through the usual legislative scrutiny of hearings and debate. Should it emerge intact from House-Senate negotiations over the spending package, it could be law next month. Touted as an antiterrorism measure, the "Real ID Act" would also overturn laws in nine states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. If a state does not comply with any provision of the law, its residents would no longer be able to use their driver's licenses for federal identification purposes, such as for boarding a plane.
The law, some say, would effectively turn the new driver's license into a national identification card. Its chief champion, James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin and the house judiciary chairman, says the measure would help prevent terrorists from fraudulently gaining official documents that would allow them to enter the country and move freely.
Another set of provisions would significantly raise the standard of proof that asylum applicants must meet when claiming that they have been persecuted on ethnic, religious, or political grounds. It would also grant greater discretion to Homeland Security officials to reject asylum seekers and curtail the ability of appeals courts to issue stays of deportation orders and review rejected cases.
Terrorists have "used almost every conceivable means of entering the country," Sensenbrenner said in a statement provided by an aide.
"They have come as students, tourists, and business visitors. They have also been legal permanent residents‚ and naturalized U.S. citizens. They have snuck across the border illegally, arrived as stowaways on ships, used false passports, and have been granted amnesty. Terrorists have even used America's humanitarian tradition of welcoming those seeking asylum. We must plug these gaps."
But many critics of the Real ID Act say that it goes too far and that its language is riddled with problems that might have been corrected through the normal legislative review process.
The bill "does much more than just deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants," said Cheye Calvo of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State lawmakers and governors say that the Real ID Act would lead to horrific delays at motor vehicle bureaus, that it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than Congress anticipates, and that it would impose an unrealistic three-year deadline for having the verification system in place.
Moreover, civil libertarians argue that by creating uniform national standards for driver's licenses and requiring states to pool driver information in a national database, the bill is a back-door move to creating a national identification card, which they oppose on privacy grounds.
And immigrant advocates fear the asylum changes are too draconian and will hurt people with legitimate claims of persecution.
But Sensenbrenner is pushing hard to keep the measure on the final Iraq spending bill, and his opinion carries special weight in Congress.
Republican leaders promised him last December that the Real ID Act would get a quick hearing in 2005 after he agreed to remove it from a major intelligence overhaul bill that the Bush administration needed to pass.
Moreover, political observers say the Bush administration is unwilling to antagonize Sensenbrenner because, as Judiciary Committee chairman, he will hold sway over President George W. Bush's proposal to reform the immigration system by establishing a system of guest worker visas.
Congress set to pass strict driver's-licenses bill
By Charlie Savage The Boston Globe
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2005
WASHINGTON Congress is poised to pass a law that would make sweeping changes to the nation's system for issuing driver's licenses by imposing stringent requirements on states to verify the authenticity of birth certificates, Social Security cards, legal residency visas, and bank and utility records used to obtain a license.
House Republicans attached the bill to a must-pass supplemental spending package for troops in Iraq without first putting it through the usual legislative scrutiny of hearings and debate. Should it emerge intact from House-Senate negotiations over the spending package, it could be law next month. Touted as an antiterrorism measure, the "Real ID Act" would also overturn laws in nine states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. If a state does not comply with any provision of the law, its residents would no longer be able to use their driver's licenses for federal identification purposes, such as for boarding a plane.
The law, some say, would effectively turn the new driver's license into a national identification card. Its chief champion, James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin and the house judiciary chairman, says the measure would help prevent terrorists from fraudulently gaining official documents that would allow them to enter the country and move freely.
Another set of provisions would significantly raise the standard of proof that asylum applicants must meet when claiming that they have been persecuted on ethnic, religious, or political grounds. It would also grant greater discretion to Homeland Security officials to reject asylum seekers and curtail the ability of appeals courts to issue stays of deportation orders and review rejected cases.
Terrorists have "used almost every conceivable means of entering the country," Sensenbrenner said in a statement provided by an aide.
"They have come as students, tourists, and business visitors. They have also been legal permanent residents‚ and naturalized U.S. citizens. They have snuck across the border illegally, arrived as stowaways on ships, used false passports, and have been granted amnesty. Terrorists have even used America's humanitarian tradition of welcoming those seeking asylum. We must plug these gaps."
But many critics of the Real ID Act say that it goes too far and that its language is riddled with problems that might have been corrected through the normal legislative review process.
The bill "does much more than just deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants," said Cheye Calvo of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State lawmakers and governors say that the Real ID Act would lead to horrific delays at motor vehicle bureaus, that it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than Congress anticipates, and that it would impose an unrealistic three-year deadline for having the verification system in place.
Moreover, civil libertarians argue that by creating uniform national standards for driver's licenses and requiring states to pool driver information in a national database, the bill is a back-door move to creating a national identification card, which they oppose on privacy grounds.
And immigrant advocates fear the asylum changes are too draconian and will hurt people with legitimate claims of persecution.
But Sensenbrenner is pushing hard to keep the measure on the final Iraq spending bill, and his opinion carries special weight in Congress.
Republican leaders promised him last December that the Real ID Act would get a quick hearing in 2005 after he agreed to remove it from a major intelligence overhaul bill that the Bush administration needed to pass.
Moreover, political observers say the Bush administration is unwilling to antagonize Sensenbrenner because, as Judiciary Committee chairman, he will hold sway over President George W. Bush's proposal to reform the immigration system by establishing a system of guest worker visas.