Chris Dodd: “I am glad our math is good here this morning. I appreciate that early in the day. Mr. President, I thank my colleague…”

“I am glad our math is good here this morning. I appreciate that early in the day. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for his leadership on this bill and his eloquence this morning on this amendment being offered by our colleague from Kentucky. I commend our colleague from Illinois as well for his eloquent comments about the problems associated with this amendment. Very bluntly and very squarely, if the McConnell amendment is adopted in the next 20 minutes, then roughly 142 million people in our country would have to have a new--a new--photo identification, one which does not exist yet, that complies with REAL ID by the elections in 2008. Otherwise, you could not vote a regular ballot in the 2008 Federal elections without this new identification. My colleague cites polling data that indicates that 62 percent of Americans believe a photo identification may be necessary. They were not asked whether or not they knew they would have to have a completely new identification, which I presume they would have to pay for, and if they don't have it with them by election day 2008, then they would not be allowed to show up and vote a regular ballot in person for presidential and other federal candidates across the country. So 142 million people could be disenfranchised by this amendment if we end up requiring a new photo identification.…”