(snip)"The House of Representatives Thursday finally acted on this finding from the 9/11-commission staff by overwhelmingly (261-161) approving an important border-security measure, the Real ID Act of 2005. The provisions of the bill, championed by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, were originally included in the House version of last year's intelligence-reform bill, but were dropped after Senate objections.
The measure would set standards for driver's licenses or other state identification documents to be accepted for federal purposes (like boarding an airplane); make it easier to deny terrorists asylum; and overcome environmentalist obstructions to completing the border fence south of San Diego.
The American Civil Liberties Union was stridently opposed to the bill, which is a selling point for conservatives. On the other hand, a few voices on the Right also opposed the bill, such as the American Conservative Union and the Free Congress Foundation, based on unfounded fears that the bill is the leading edge of a move toward a centralized national ID card. But the bill merely sets minimum standards for driver's licenses, e.g., that states have to check the legal status of the applicants, that the expiration date of the license should coincide with the visa expiration date of a visitor who obtains a license, and that licenses should be modernized to make them more secure. Insofar as they represent national-security and immigration-control functions that are within the legitimate ambit of the federal government, it is not overreaching for the feds to set minimal requirements. Even Phyllis Schlafly, who yields to no one in her suspicion of the federal bureaucracy, approves of the bill. "(snip)
Besides the security issues, if this bill becomes law it should go a long way towards tightening border security, towards kicking illegal aliens off the public dole etc. The best part is that many California democrats can actually get what they want i.e. revitalizing prop 187, and be able to blame republicans in Washington for it instead of taking heat from the California liberal fringe !





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