I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napalitano gave testimony before the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last week and declined to say she would allow an extension to the REAL ID Act and instead urged passage of the PASS ID Act.
The REAL ID Act calls for more stringent nationwide standards for federal agencies to recognize drivers licenses, including recognizing drivers licenses as identification for boarding airplanes. A majority of states are expected to not meet the standards.
In the testimony from December 2, Senator Tom Udall, D-N.M., asked Napalitano about the issue.
Here is the full exchange, from the Department of Homeland Security’s transcript:
[Sen. Tom Udall]: As you know, more than 30 states including New Mexico are unlikely to meet the December 31st deadline to become materially compliant with the Real ID Act of 2005.
While I understand the administration would prefer to enact Pass ID Act in lieu of granting an additional extension, the uncertainty surrounding what your department may or may not do if the legislation is not signed into law is creating confusion for people in the state that are not in compliance. This is — and I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about this too — this is causing a great deal of anxiety with the constituents who are seeing news reports they’ll need a passport in order to travel on a commercial airline in the U.S. after the 1st of the year. I believe Senator Bingaman and I sent you a letter on this issue on Monday. Will you commit now to extending the deadline for compliance with Real ID if Congress has not addressed the issue by December 31st?Sec. Napolitano: Well, Senator, thank you, and yes, I — here is the problem. Congress passed Real ID as a footnote in an appropriations bill and that did not have the benefit of hearings nor consultation with the states, which caused vast revolt among the states of which Arizona was one, and so we went and worked with the governors on a bipartisan basis to fix Real ID and that gave birth to a piece of legislation known as Pass ID. It has been through committee. It’s been marked up. It is ready for floor action. It deals with a lot of the issues that — it solves the governors’ problems with Real ID.
I would — before I get to the question of extensions, one of the reasons we had Real ID and now Pass ID is because the 9/11 commission had a recommendation that we improve the security quality of driver’s licenses, and because Real ID has been rejected by the states just by granting extension after extension after extension we’re not getting to the pathway to have more secure driver’s licenses. Pass ID helps us meet the 9/11 commission recommendations and at the same time addresses issues that were legitimately raised by the states. And so what I would prefer to urge the Senate to do and use the — this hearing as an opportunity to really urge it to do is to move to floor action and move Pass ID through so we can get it over to the House. I think it could go very quickly over there and we could solve this issue, as opposed to extension after extension, which not only doesn’t deal with the 9/11 commission recommendation but it’s just another year of uncertainty.Sen. Udall: Yeah. Well, as you are probably aware, the situation that we’re in now — we have health care on the floor — where if tried to move to anything else I think it would make it much more difficult procedurally. So I think if — I don’t see us getting to Pass ID on the Senate floor between now and the end of the year. So I think it would be very helpful for you to issue a statement — you might use this as an opportunity to do it — to assure people that after December 31st they will be able to travel with something other than a passport. I don’t know if you want to do that at this point but if you decline that’s fine.
Sec. Napolitano: I think I will not accept that invitation at this point in time.
With health care reform moving slowly (see the New Mexico Independent’s health care reform coverage), it is not known if the Senate could pass the PASS ID Act before the new year.
If the legislation is not passed, citizens of many states, including New Mexico, could be forced to use passports as their identification for boarding planes, even on domestic flights.
