National ID plan may have killed immigration bill

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://news.com.com/2102-7348_3-6193916.html?tag=st.util.print>

CNET News


National ID plan may have killed immigration bill

By Declan McCullagh


Story last modified Thu Jun 28 13:46:11 PDT 2007


The U.S. Senate definitively rejected President George Bush's immigration
bill on Thursday, just hours after senators expressed deep misgivings with
portions that would have expanded the use of a national ID card.

Because the procedural vote was 46 to 53, with 60 votes needed to advance
the immigration legislation, the proposal is likely to remain dead for the
rest of the year.

Privacy advocates were quick to claim that a vote against Real ID cards the
previous evening doomed the bill.

Wednesday's vote showed that senators were willing to delete the portion of
the labyrinthine immigration bill that would require employers to demand
the Real ID cards from new hires. Because some of the bill's backers had
insisted that the ID requirement remain in place--as a way to identify
illegal immigrants--they were no longer as willing to support the overall
bill.

"The proponents of national ID in the Senate weren't getting what they
wanted, so they backed away," said Jim Harper, a policy analyst at the
free-market Cato Institute who opposes Real ID. "It was a landmine that
blew up in their faces."

In a press release, the two Montana Democrats, Max Baucus and Jon Tester,
said they were happy that a pro-privacy approach killed the bill. "If Jon
and I just brought down the entire bill, that's good for Montana and the
country," said Baucus, who cosponsored the amendment deleting the employer
verification rule.

But supporters of the overall legislation, which would have created a new
category of "Z" visas for currently illegal immigrants, expressed dismay at
its apparent demise.

Microsoft said it was disappointed by Thursday's procedural vote against
advancing the bill, which will "likely result in the collapse of
comprehensive immigration reform that is desperately needed to address the
shortage of highly skilled talent."

"The American people understand the status quo is unacceptable when it
comes to our immigration laws," Bush said.


Opponents of the bill, including Republican senator Jim DeMint of South
Carolina, said derailing it was a victory. "When the U.S. Senate brought
the amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American
people," DeMint said.

The American Civil Liberties Union, another longtime foe of Real ID, said
the Real ID requirements were a "poison pill that derailed this bill, and
any future legislation should be written knowing the American people won't
swallow it." Another section of the immigration bill would have given $1.5
billion to state officials to pay for Real ID compliance.

Even if the immigration bill is goes nowhere, however, the Real ID Act is
still in effect. It 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.)

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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'