Appropriations Bills

House Passes REAL ID Funding Despite Efforts by the Republican Leadership


Unfunded Mandate Would Have Hit States Already Struggling with New Homeland Security Costs

WASHINGTON – Today, despite the opposition of the House Republican Leadership, the House passed funding for the REAL ID Act, the new program to create national requirements for driver’s licenses recently passed by Congress.

An amendment by Rep. David Obey (D-WI) will provide the states with $100 million to comply with REAL ID.

“Two weeks ago, the Republican leadership attached a totally unrelated bill to the Iraq War Supplemental,” said Obey, Ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations. “This unrelated bill created a whole new set of state requirements for driver’s licenses. It imposed new responsibilities on states but provided no money to pay for them.”

“States would be left holding the bag for costs between 100 and 500 million dollars. This was done by the same Republican majority that claims to oppose unfunded mandates. This amendment will fund that mandate.”

The amendment contains $100 million to fund costs associated with the REAL ID Act. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that REAL ID would cost the states $100 million over the 2006-2010 period; the National Conference of State Legislatures estimates the costs at $500 million.

The Obey amendment is offset by reducing poorly justified funding increases for contractors who provide advice to the Department of Homeland Security. It leaves a total of over $29 million in advisory contracts in 2006, 34% above 2005.

Attachments:  Obey’s amendment is a (pdf) file, requires a Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

# # #