The following press release is from the Libertarian Party website (www.lp.org):
All Americans Must Denounce the Real ID Act
Libertarian Party Calls on the U.S. Senate to Remove H.R. 418 RFS from the Appropriations Bill
America is hours away from implementing universal measures of identification for every citizen of this nation. Today, the U.S. Senate will be voting on the Real ID Act (H.R. 418 RFS) which has been quietly slipped into an $82 billion dollar appropriations bill for "defense, the global war on terror and tsunami relief."
The purpose of the Real ID Act is to, "To establish and rapidly implement regulations for State driver's license and identification document security standards, to prevent terrorists from abusing the asylum laws of the United States, to unify terrorism-related grounds for inadmissibility and removal, and to ensure expeditious construction of the San Diego border fence."
The act will remove a state's ability to set standards and qualifications for driver's licenses and I.D. cards. Instead, the federal government will establish their own universal standards that will result in a national I.D. card for citizens.
Additionally, the Real ID Act calls for implementation of the program with "common machine-readable technology" which could lead to widespread abuse, identity theft and massive privacy concerns.
Libertarian Party Executive Director Joe Seehusen stated, "The Real ID Act was snuck onto the Senate floor without debate. If passed, it will not only create a national I.D. system, but a national citizen database for use and abuse by our federal bureaucracy. While both republicans and democrats talk of freedom and democracy, their vote for this bill will put our great nation in league with the authoritarian regimes of the past."
There is still time to take action against this act; you may contact your Senator directly by clicking here.