Hmm no response .. Or simply nobody cares??
Here is another cut n paste from the CNN website. President Bush already signed the Real ID Act bill on May 11th.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Among the aftershocks of September 11, 2001, the discovery that the hijackers had been able to move so freely within the United States, some with expired visas, some using American driver's licenses, has often nagged at lawmakers.
"These murderers chose our driver's licenses and state ID's as a form of identification because these documents allowed them to blend in and not raise suspicion or concern," says House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner.
Sensenbrenner is backing legislation that he says will impede terrorist travel in the United States.
It would make all 50 states verify that anyone applying for or renewing a driver's license is a legal U.S. resident. And the licenses of legal, temporary residents would expire when their visas do.
Supporters point to Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker who had a six-month visa to stay in the United States, but also a Florida driver's license good for six years.
Richard Falkenrath, a CNN security analyst and former White House Department of Homeland Security adviser, says, "This is going to improve the quality of our identification, which we use at every checkpoint in the country."
Driver's licenses are often used as ID's at checkpoints like airports, gun shops and government buildings, but undocumented immigrants couldn't do that under the proposal.
Right now, 11 states allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The proposed legislation would still let them get a license, but it would be coded differently.
Opponents are worried about "Big Brother."
"This proposal is going to create a national identification card for the first time. It literally sets up the backbone for a system to track all Americans throughout their lives -- their movements, where they're going to and where they're coming from," says Tim Sparapani of the ACLU.
Opponents also believe putting all this new information into one database to be shared by motor vehicle divisions across the country is a recipe for identity theft. Still, every indication is that this proposal will pass both houses of Congress soon, and President Bush is likely to sign it.
