February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The Real ID Act of 2005 was passed by 261 to 161 votes and now goes to the Senate, where critics hope it will be either rejected or watered down.
The bill was referred to no fewer than three House committees after it was introduced, but none of the committees actually held hearings.
Instead, the bill, H.R. 418, was fast tracked onto the House floor for a vote last Thursday.
The bill, drawn up by GOP Rep. James Sensenbrenner, proposes to establish uniform rules for the issuing of temporary driver’s licenses in all states.
It would limit such licenses to the period of a visa issued to a particular individual.
Critics have claimed that its provisions will force all states to clamp down on the issuing of licenses regardless of other changes in licensing laws already being considered by Congress.
“This is not over yet and there is still a lot of questions whether the Senate will approve it,” said Jackie Zimo of the New York Immigration Coalition.
She said that critics of the Real ID measure were watching closely to see whether there would be an attempt in the Senate to attach the bill to another measure, specifically a bill on troop funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As well as focusing on driver’s licenses, the Sensenbrenner bill also includes a tightening of rules for granting asylum in the U.S. and proposes more stringent border controls.
In an editorial Tuesday, The New York Times described H.R. 418 as a “misbegotten immigration control bill” that was “hurriedly cobbled together.” The paper called on the Senate to defeat the measure.
The bill’s passage was ensured by 219 GOP and 42 Democratic votes. 152 Democrats, eight Republicans and one independent voted no. There were 11 no voters.
All three Republican representatives holding key Irish positions, Friends of Ireland chairman Jim Walsh and Ad Hoc Committee for Irish Affairs co-chairs, Peter King and John Sweeney, voted for the bill. The Democratic co-chairs of the Ad Hoc group, Joe Crowley and Richard Neal, voted against.
“We’re very concerned about this measure,” said Sheila Gleeson of the Irish Immigration Center in Boston. “We’ll be looking to all our legislators to come up with more positive immigration legislation than this.”
One of those legislators is Sen. Edward Kennedy, a prime mover behind efforts in the Senate to provide green cards for undocumented immigrants through a process of so-called “earned legalization.”
Kennedy and the GOP’s John McCain are being viewed as a potential bipartisan pairing around which support can be built for legislation supporting this idea.
With passage of the Real ID Act, the immigration debate on Capitol Hill has now taken firmer shape between those legislators favoring a clampdown, President Bush’s proposal for temporary work visas, and legislators such as Kennedy who want to see an avenue to legalization for those undocumented who can meet specific legal requirements.