Chad Groening
A grassroots activist organization is calling on American citizens to contact their members of Congress to try to repeal the "REAL ID Act," a piece of legislation the group says is nothing more than a federal takeover of state departments of motor vehicles. Opposition to the legislation is brewing in several states.
The REAL ID Act of 2005, intended as a measure to deter terrorism, was signed into law in May 2005; implementation and enforcement, however, have been delayed until December 2009. Tom DeWeese, president of the American Policy Center (APC), says the Act will essentially transform driver's licenses into a national identification card. But the cost to fully implement the Act's provisions, he claims, could be as high as $14.5 billion dollars, or almost $300 million per state.
DeWeese says the cost and red tape of the program is so enormous that a number of states are in revolt, primarily because they simply cannot afford to comply.
"There have been several [states] around the country that have now passed resolutions that say they are not going to do this," he explains. "Five states have said they cannot comply and are refusing to comply; 13 more states have ...   more »