NWO WATCH:US:Real ID card plan starved of funds

The fate of a Bush-backed national identification card is up in the air after the US senate rejected providing US$300 million in funding for the plan.By a 50-44 vote mostly along party lines,the chamber set aside a Republican-backed amendment to a homeland security spending bill that would have spread US$300 million across the states to help them implement the so-called Real ID Act.The Senate also agreed unanimously to adopt an amendment, proposed by vocal Real ID critic Max Baucus, which prohibits the use of any of the spending bill's funding for "planning, testing, piloting, or developing a national identification card."The votes leave just US$50 million in additional Real ID grants for states in the the final bill, which passed by an 89-4 vote late Thursday and is now headed to the president's desk. President Bush has previously vowed to veto the entire measure, but it was not immediately clear whether that was still the case.The remaining grant figure appears unlikely to satisfy state officials, many of whom have blasted Real ID as an "unfunded mandate."The Department of Homeland Security projects the cost of Real ID for states and taxpayers over the next 10 years at more than US$23 billion. Seventeen states have already enacted statutes or resolutions registering their opposition to the new requirements, according to the American Civil Liberties Union's RealNightmare.org.(Not all states, however, feel that way.)The Real ID Act,which was enacted in 2005 after being glued to an emergency war spending bill,is designed to carry out a proposal suggested by the 9/11 Commission, which reported that some of the September 11 hijackers had fraudulently obtained state driver's licenses.But critics argue the plan is misguided, insufficiently privacy-protective and prohibitively expensive.The law dictates that, starting on May 11, 2008,Americans will need a federally approved,"machine readable"ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments or take advantage of nearly any government service.Before issuing the cards,which would have to adhere to Homeland Security standards,states would be required to verify electronically that identification documents, such as birth certificates,presented by their citizens are authentic. (States that agree in advance to abide by the rules would be given until 2013 to comply.)
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http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/US-Real-ID-card-plan-starved-of-funds/0,130061744,339280640,00.htm
As in the days of Noah...