Lamar Smith: “I thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding. He is absolutely correct. On September 11, 2001, Americans were…”

“I thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding. He is absolutely correct. On September 11, 2001, Americans were attacked by foreign nationals who were able to exploit our laws and live unnoticed in the United States. The 19 hijackers obtained 17 driver's licenses from Arizona, California, and Florida and 13 State- issued IDs from Florida, Virginia, and Maryland. {time} 2030 With these licenses and identification cards, they boarded the planes they used to murder over 3,000 innocent Americans. The 9/11 Commission recommended that ``the Federal Government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification such as driver's licenses. Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.'' Congress paid attention and passed the REAL ID Act. The law is critical to national security. This administration has undermined the REAL ID Act at every turn. They extended the compliance deadline two times, most recently last March, so now States do not have to be REAL ID-complaint until January 1, 2013. That is 11\1/2\ years after the 9/ 11 attacks. And Secretary Napolitano consistently pushes for repeal of REAL ID instead of compliance.…”