Posted on 12/12/2004 9:23:59 PM PST by CHARLITE
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) has promised disgruntled conservatives that the House's top priority in the 109th Congress is passing legislation that bars illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses, language the Senate stripped from the just-passed intelligence bill.
House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), a strong proponent of the driver's license provision, secured Hastert's assurance once House leaders agreed to vote on the intelligence bill last week. Sensenbrenner helped thwart a November 20 vote on the legislation because the provision was removed.
Hastert's spokesman, John Feehery, said the speaker wouldn't hesitate about attaching the language to an Iraq supplemental bill, which President Bush is expected to request early next year. "We're going to do everything we can to get it on there," Feehery told HUMAN EVENTS.
But getting the Senate to comply with the driver's license provision is expected to be difficult, particularly because Senators Susan Collins (R.-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (D.-Conn.) fought its inclusion in the intelligence bill. Collins ducked a question last week from HUMAN EVENTS about Sensenbrenner's proposal, claiming she hadn't had time to review it (see page 3).
President Bush has also yet to signal where he stands on the driver's license proposal. In response to a question from HUMAN EVENTS' John Gizzi last week, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "In terms of driver's license, the President stated that we need to consult closely with states about the standards that we're talking about setting."
Sensenbrenner said the White House was trying to work out disputes within the administration before agreeing to the language. He rejected the idea that Bush might want the provision attached to his controversial "guest-worker" proposal for illegal aliens.
Although Sensenbrenner said he would like a House floor vote on his proposal--which also includes asylum reform and completion of a fence on the Mexican border in the San Diego area--he didn't rule out its inclusion in the Iraq funding request. Tying the language to that bill would make it more difficult for the Senate to reject it. Sensenbrenner said, "We will have this all keyed up so when the must-pass bill train leaves the station, this will be on it."
House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis (R.-Va.) pledged his support for Sensenbrenner's proposal, as did Rep. Steve King (R.-Iowa), who voted against the intelligence bill because it failed to include the immigration reforms. King said he would also push for the expedited removal of illegal aliens and the ability to detain those who pose a danger.
Eleven states currently issue driver's licenses to people without lawful presence in the United States. "The driver's license has become a de facto identification card and that's all it takes to get on an airplane or buy a gun," King told HUMAN EVENTS.
Robert B. Bluey is Assistant Editor for HUMAN EVENTS
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Carolyn
yep....
I think doing something similar to what the government does with the Common Access Card would be good for a Social Security card.
CAC cards have a chip that cannot be duplicated very easily. Might knock down the fraud somewhat...
Let me clarify my comment. I'm just saying that law enforcement personnel, directed by the politicians who pay their salaries (city councils, state legislatures, Congress, etc.), and judicial authorities in this country consider illegal immigration an extremely minor offense and generally neither prosecute nor punish it. Some even consider it a mitigating circumstance in robbery, carjacking, murder, rape, and other violent crimes. Many jurisdictions have declared themselves "havens" for illegal aliens and give them benefits denied to most citizens or even legal aliens. So if enforcing illegal-immigration laws, given the flagrancy of violation, is a priority, then jaywalking must be a greater priority.
I don't know who the 70% of Americans for whom illegal immigration is a big problem are, but I can't find them more concentrated than on this forum. Maybe most of those "Americans" have a problem with the minor law that forbids illegal immigration. Maybe some of them have problems with the laws that forbid driver licenses to illegal aliens in some states. I don't know. But if 70% of Americans wanted to enforce our immigration laws and considered it a priority, we wouldn't have 3.5 million new illegal aliens every few months.
This forum is the only place that I find 70% opposition to illegal immigration.
That sounds just like Sensenbrenner himself. He wants a federal registry of all state licenses so people can't have licenses in different states. Why? He mentions the 19 hijackers but also talks about people getting multiple licenses to dilute or hide their bad driving records.
That's what this crap is really about, the usual power brokers have decided that Americans need to be tracked and controlled more effectively. Anyone who thinks this will improve our security needs to read up on what constitutes security (hint: it doesn't have anything to do with proof of insurance).
you are talking security...
I am talking about EVERYONE getting a driver's license.....
but read whatever you wish....
What you apparantly don't realize is that the future terrorists can be sleepers, can easily steal identities, can perform terrorist activities that aren't covered by an ID check, can waltz by pathetic TSA screeners with a fake ID, etc. National security is not going to be improved by making everyone carry such a card.
What you apparantly don't realize is that the future terrorists can be sleepers, can easily steal identities, can perform terrorist activities that aren't covered by an ID check, can waltz by pathetic TSA screeners with a fake ID, etc. National security is not going to be improved by making everyone carry such a card.
The bill is being sold as a security measure. As for making everyone get a driver's license, that's not going to stop an unlicensed illegal alien from ramming my car.
Yeah, sorry, I did jump in with a slight change in topic. It's my hot button you see.
wow, you haven't read a thing have you?
YOu gotta start somewhere....first we stop the license issue, figure out a way to stop people from hiring aliens and making sure that we are doing our best to ensure the illegals cannot say they are Americans is asked. That will shore up the internal issues.
Then we look at the border. a fence? How to fix that? This should be interesting as there ARE no feasbile plans at this time.
Then after we have fixed the internal issues and the border, we must figure out what is causing the mass migration. Once we figure that out, we empower these people to fix their countries and leave ours alone...
you can't let it get to you. No matter what the fix is, it will still take some years to implement to root out all of the illegals, their financiers, their employers.
Even with the strictest laws, there will always be illegal immigration. But you must do your best for your country and knocking it down by 95% should be attainable. 100% is the goal, 95% will probably be the reality...
Then you realize there is a tradeoff. Those strict laws aren't just an inconvenience for Americans who will have to prove they are American. There are serious 4th amendment issues with federal ID. The primary one is that the ID becomes required for everything and a defacto national ID.
no, what I am saying is that the states need to require everyone to show proof that they do have a social security card.
I guess that is techincally ID, but it isnt for a national ID card, it would be more for a driver's license. It should remain that way too.
Come to my neighborhood you may change your mind. Matter of fact, wait a few years and the problems will be in your neck of the woods also. It IS a big deal!
My take on licensing is very practical: I drive the gauntlet from DC (jobs) to Manassas (cheap hispanic housing). I've seen a lot of crappy drivers in crappy cars and I really don't care if they are legally licensed or not. My safety on the road is not going to improve if they are.
I guess I don't understand the logic of thinking that safer drivers are licensed drivers and vice versa. I don't really know where I said that either....
The issue of whether having a "unforgable" license that proves you are insured is an easy choice for me. It is useless.
Big deal.
Congress passed this provision in the Intel Bill already. It is the Senate who insists it shouldn't be done. The SENATE is the problem!
I'm more convinced every day we need to get rid of this body of time serving loafers and repeal the rascally 17th Amendment. Let's do the Senate the way the Founding Fathers wanted it. They were a lot smarter than the bozos who overturned their august work in 1913!
"we need to pick off the Rhino's who won't actively support sorting out the illegal immigration and associated security problems."
Whew...lots of pickin' there. We had one republican senator stand up for these provisions:
INHOFE SAYS INTELLIGENCE REFORM BILL OVERLOOKS MAJOR ISSUES
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
WASHINGTON--U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) today voted against the final passage of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (S.2845), which was eventually approved by the Senate (89-2).
"Today I joined the majority of our Oklahoma delegation in voting against the final passage of this bill," Inhofe said. "While there where many provisions I agreed with, unfortunately there were also glaring omissions that where impossible to overlook and caused me to oppose final passage.
"Stripped from the final version of this bill were five provisions that I felt were absolutely imperative to include in this reform package. Once you pass a bill, you lose your leverage to get those things that were controversial back in the bill. I do not have any doubt that the Speaker would bring this up at the beginning of the next Congress, but I have serious doubts that once passed in the House that those five areas that I have outlined would be corrected in the Senate. "Many people would be outraged to know that there is a 3.5 mile gap in our fence line with Mexico that exists solely to preserve the environment of five birds that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The provision in the bill to patch this hole was removed because apparently repairing our border will disturb these five animals."
Senator Inhofe also expressed dismay that the following provisions were removed from the original version of this legislation:
* Electronic Confirmation by State DMVs of the Validity of Other States' Driver's Licenses and Driver Information.
* Anti-Trafficking Provision that Adds to the Existing Criminal Code Regarding the Sale of ID Counterfeiting Technology and Information.
* A Requirement for Proof of Lawful Presence in the United States.
* Temporary Driver's License requirements that State Visas and similar Documents Should Expire on the Same Date as Temporary Licenses.
* Restriction on a State's Ability to Accept Foreign Documents like the Matricula for Driver's Licenses.
http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/
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