For Immediate Release Contact: Jen Burita
January 11, 2008 (202) 224-2523

SENATOR COLLINS COMMENTS ON REAL ID REQUIREMENTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the
Senate Homeland Security Committee, today released the following statement on
the Department of Homeland Security’s release of regulations related to the
REAL ID program:

“I am pleased that the Department has addressed one of my primary
concerns by giving states more time to implement the REAL ID requirements,”
noted Senator Collins. “However, expecting states to use already limited
homeland security grant funds to implement REAL ID is an unacceptable means of
mitigating the high cost of this program. The Department also did not fully
address privacy concerns that many of us have raised. Until these issues are
addressed, states are going to have to assess the feasibility of implementing
the program within the constraints of their own privacy laws and their own
budgets. If these constraints prove too difficult to overcome, the Department
will need to consider just how much security REAL ID actually provides if
several states are not participating in it.”