5.13.2005

Five Senators who stood up:

This web page records the statements of five senators who spoke out against RealID before the senate passed the entire bill. Bear in mind it's not clear what all the senators thought they were voting on; the drafts (and some comments on the web) suggest that RealID was removed and put back during Senate action (see Byrd below). The five senators (with a quote from each) are:

  1. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) "unlike a lot of legislation we pass here, this is well named. This really is a national identification card."
  2. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) "The federal government should not impinge upon the states' ability to decide who can and cannot drive on their roads."
  3. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) "During the recess, 55 pages of modified Real ID immigration legislation were inserted into the conference report, sight unseen, by the conferees. Now, can you imagine that? That would not have happened when I was chairman of the Appropriations Committee. That would not have happened when I was majority leader of the Senate."
  4. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT) "The Real ID Act will repeal ID security provisions enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support last year at the urging of the 9/11 Commission."
  5. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) "The Real ID Act is a big step in the wrong direction."

And perhaps other senators spoke out as well. The web page I'm referring to starts by pointing out that Bill O'Reilly of Fox non-News misleadingly suggested that the senate passed RealID BY ITSELF 100-0.

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