McClatchy: Opposition may delay or repeal Real ID program

:applause: :applause:

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17196820.htm

Opposition may delay or repeal Real ID program
By Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A nationalized system for driver's licenses that was to take effect next year already had been postponed because of a backlash from Congress and several states, and the Senate began hearings Tuesday to consider repealing it altogether.

The Real ID Act was pitched as a homeland-security enhancement, added to a spending bill and passed by the Republican-led Congress in 2005.

To board commercial airlines or enter federal buildings, Americans would need to obtain new identification cards with beefed-up requirements to prove their legal status and verify their Social Security numbers, addresses and other information. States were to be ready by this time next year.

But the law is under assault from a coalition of liberal Democrats, privacy-conscious Republicans and libertarians, immigrants-rights advocates and state legislatures.

Two states have passed binding legislation to opt out: Montana and Washington. Six have passed resolutions opposing the law: Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine and North Dakota. Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire and Oklahoma are poised to follow. Similar legislation has been introduced this year in another 20 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Bite my ass, Tex Sensenbrenner. ;-)