Wisconsin in the home state of Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R), who sponsored the Real I.D. legislation.

Help first, ID us later

By The Journal Times Editorial Board
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:09 AM CST

Few priorities should ever be set in stone, and when circumstances change so should priorities. A case in point is the Real ID plan which was passed in Washington in 2005 in a bill from Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner and which is now about to cost the state $17 million.

In the meantime we face a massive state budget deficit in Wisconsin combined with a sour economy. While $17 million isn’t much against a $5 billion deficit, every dollar will add up, and we should put our efforts into fighting the deficit and the economic troubles.

What the ID plan is supposed to do is create a driver’s license that is more difficult to counterfeit. It’s supposed to be done by 2017, and what it’s supposed to do is protect us from terrorists and from illegal immigrants and whatever danger they pose. Also, state identity cards complying with federal rules will become necessary for boarding aircraft or entering federal buildings. That’s the threat which the federal government wields to coerce compliance from states.

Terrorists are on the run, however. Like insects they may not permanently disappear, but they’re gone for the moment, and there are other ways to find them — sales of certain materials and equipment, thefts of weapons, and so forth. It’s also likely that terrorists — at least the ones smart enough to worry about — won’t walk into a DMV office but will have their IDs competently forged.

That leaves illegal immigrants to be caught, but the economic downturn with its depressive effect on consumption and jobs will make the United States a much less attractive place to go for people seeking work.

Increasing the security of identity documents was one of the steps recommended by the 9/11 Commission, and it is certainly worthwhile, but given other developments and options it is not a critical action. We should not do it at the expense of much more important actions such as retraining workers. That $17 million would go a long way toward, for example, helping people out of work or seeking to change careers after their Janesville auto factory closed or making sure that public health work continues so that people already in economic trouble don’t also fall prey to easily preventable health problems.

When times are better and there is more money available, then we can consider the Real ID program again. For the moment we must secure ourselves against greater economic dangers.

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