“We need to repeal REAL ID and replace it with a system that will work and does not pass the cost along to state taxpayers”

Portland, Maine (Friday, January 11, 2008)—U.S. Representative Tom Allen today issued the following statement in response to the regulations released today by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concerning the REAL ID program:

    “By issuing regulations that delay final, full implementation of the REAL ID's driver's license requirements until 2017—sixteen years after 9/11—the Department of Homeland Security tacitly recognizes that REAL ID is unworkable.  REAL ID imposes a costly mandate on states that requires them to gather, scan, and retain personal information about everyone who seeks a driver's license or identification card, raising serious privacy concerns.  We need to repeal REAL ID and replace it with a system that will work and does not pass the cost along to state taxpayers.  My legislation, H.R. 1117, The Repeal REAL ID and Identification Security Enhancement Act, does just that.  It replaces this fundamentally flawed law and brings together DHS, the Department of Transportation, states, and experts in privacy, civil liberties and constitutional rights to establish national standards that will protect both national security and the privacy and civil liberties of American citizens.”