Bush grants funding to states for Real ID initiative

President Bush has apparently acquiesced to Congress' and governors' demands to assist in funding the Real ID initiative, with the appropriation of an additional $110 million in grants to assist in the upgrade of driver's licenses.

The Real ID project is aimed at developing a better system for identification when used as a method to gain entrance to federal facilities. This is seen as a counter-terrorism measure since it will ostensibly make it harder to fool the system with forged IDs.

Under the statute, states must begin the transition process by December 31, 2009, and have it completed within four years. The budget request also includes $50 million to continue development of information sharing systems to make the Real ID effort more effective.

However before this, the Bush Administration has failed to provide much in the way of funding to assist in the transition, leaving states to foot much of the bill. Governors claim in the first five years, the states could collectively spend as much as $11 billion to re-enroll all 245 million licensed drivers, plus approximately $1 billion in start up costs.

So far, calls for financial assistance have gone unheeded. $50 million in grants were set aside for Real ID in December though an appropriations bill, but that still pales in comparison to what will actually be needed. The grants requested as part of the annual federal budget mark the first time that President Bush himself has acknowledged that existing federal funding for the program may have been inadequate.

It is not yet clear how this latest request will affect the overall effort, as Congress pushes back against the whole program. As reported in our previous coverage, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D - Hawaii) has already introduced a bill to repeal it altogether, which has gained support from both sides of the aisle.

Said Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) last March: "The flaws of Real ID are fundamental, and are slowly being realized by observers across the country," and that a single driver's license pattern could have the reverse affect, actually making it easier for counterfeiters to make copies of licenses.