Yesterday a small group of Senators conducted a so-called debate in the mostly empty chambers of the Senate. Ten or so Senators complained about the inclusion of the REAL ID Act in the supplemental appropriations bill.
* They said the REAL ID Act was dangerous, poorly conceived, and unnecessary.
* They complained that the Senate had never even read or considered the REAL ID Act, but was now being "forced" to vote on it.
* They objected to the improper procedure of the Conference Committee in adding REAL ID to the appropriations bill.
* They objected to inflicting yet another unfunded federal mandate on the states.
* They spoke of the protests they were hearing from their constituents, and predicted a public backlash if REAL ID became law (THEY HEARD YOU!)
And then they voted.
All 100 Senators voted to pass the appropriations bill as well as the Real ID Act!
It will now become the law of the land.
* Now, you will now have to, provide four proofs of your identity the next time you renew your driver's license.
* You can also expect that your driver's license will include various types of private information about you, and down the road, a tracking device to follow you.
* You can further expect to have your information placed in a central database available through hackers and unsavory government employees.
Why did all 100 Senators vote for this horrible bill? There are probably many reasons, but I suspect the most powerful was that none of the Senators wanted to be accused of voting against funding for the troops.
This is a lame excuse. Even I'm amazed that not one single Senator had any courage in this instance. The Senators could easily have said for the record, "I want to vote for these appropriations, but will not do so with REAL ID attached." They could have voted down the bill (which was horrendous on its face to begin with) and made the House send back another version without REAL ID. The whole process could have been completed in a matter of days, with no harm to the budget-busting spending proposed in the appropriations bill.
But not even one Senator took this course. This is primarily because average citizens have done a poor job of letting their representatives know what they want... ...........
Copy & Paste, but at least you know your are screwed.
