[Infowarrior] - Senate takes step away from Real ID

[Richard Forno]

Senate takes step away from Real ID

By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/Senate+takes+step+away+from+Real+ID/2100-7348_3-6193735.
html

Story last modified Wed Jun 27 19:43:08 PDT 2007


The U.S. Senate took a preliminary step on Wednesday toward reining in the
controversial Real ID Act, which is scheduled to become America's first
federal identification card in a few years.

During Wednesday's floor debate over a massive immigration bill, Real ID
foes managed to preserve an amendment to prohibit the forthcoming
identification card from being used for mandatory employment verification,
signaling that the political winds have shifted from when the law was
overwhelmingly enacted two years ago.

The anti-Real ID amendment is backed by two Montana Democrats, Max Baucus
and Jon Tester, who say the digital ID cards represent an unreasonable
government intrusion into Americans' private lives. In April, Montana became
one of the states that has voted to reject Real ID.

"This was a real victory for Montana and the American people," Tester said,
after the Senate vote to kill their amendment failed to muster a majority.
The unsuccessful vote to table it was 45-52.

The Real ID Act says that, starting on May 11, 2008, Americans will need a
federally-approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account,
collect Social Security payments or take advantage of nearly any government
service. States must conduct checks of their citizens' identification
papers, and driver's licenses may have to be reissued to comply with
Homeland Security requirements. (States that agree in advance to abide by
the rules have until 2013 to comply.)

The immigration bill (Word document), which is backed by the Bush
administration and has drawn the ire of many conservatives, requires
employers to demand Real ID cards of new hires starting in 2013. It says
that "no driver's license or state identity card may be accepted if it does
not comply with the Real ID Act."

It also would try to siphon off opposition on privacy or federalism grounds
from state legislators by offering fat checks--$1.5 billion over five
years--with funds coming from the U.S. Treasury.

Baucus' and Tester's amendment (PDF) deletes the requirement for employer ID
verification and says that "no federal funds may be provided" to states to
create such a system.

Tim Sparapani, the ACLU's legislative counsel, called the vote a "victory
for privacy and a rejection of building an immigration system on a faulty
foundation, which was the Real ID Act."

"The way the bill was written," Sparapani said, "it should be seen as a Hail
Mary pass to save Real ID from the scrap heap."

A political sea change?
Procedurally speaking, the vote was merely a preliminary one. The
Baucus-Tester amendment itself still awaits a vote--and even if it is glued
onto a successful immigration bill or if the immigration bill dies a second
time, the underlying Real ID framework and deadlines remain in place.

That framework is estimated to cost $23.1 billion, according to the
Department of Homeland Security, and could include Americans outfitted with
radio frequency ID, or RFID, chips on the cards (the idea is being
considered but is not final). Personal data that's on the back of the card
in a two-dimensional bar code will not be encrypted because of "operational
complexity," meaning any business or government agency that scans the
information could record it in a database.
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Politically speaking, though, Wednesday's vote could be a turning point in
the national debate over Real ID. It indicates that a majority of senators
are willing to curb the controversial system, which has already led to a
kind of grassroots rebellion among the states.

The ACLU, which runs Realnightmare.org, says that 15 states have enacted an
anti-Real ID measure, 10 more have had such legislation approved by at least
one chamber, and 8 more have had it introduced in the legislature.

Homeland Security officials have defended Real ID as a way to limit illegal
immigrants and to thwart terrorists from obtaining driver's licenses.
Although some supporters exist in the U.S. Congress, key Democrats have said
the law--enacted with minimal debate as part of an emergency Iraq war
spending bill--needs to be reformed.

Other amendments (text document) to the immigration bill could affect any
final vote on the legislation. One amendment, backed by senators Max Baucus
(D), Charles Grassley (R) and Barack Obama (D), was nixed on Wednesday. It
would have rewritten the employment verification system and provided more
due process protections for American workers.

CNET News.com's Anne Broache contributed to this report