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Members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday by a margin of 368 to 58 to approve the conference report "Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes," which included the REAL ID Act of 2005.

This conference report containing the REAL ID Act of 2005 is expected to be approved by the U.S. Senate next week and be signed into law by President Bush shortly thereafter.

In order to gauge the impact of the passage and presidential approval of the REAL ID Act of 2005 on the state level, American Politics Today talked this afternoon with David House, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles.

During that interview, Mr. House explained the current documentary requirements for getting an Oregon driver's license and the changes that would be required under the REAL ID Act of 2005, principally that prospective licensees would need to have their identity and legal status vetted through computer checks with the Social Security Administration and with the Department of Homeland Security's automated system known as "Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements," in order, in the words of the REAL ID Act of 2005, "to verify the legal presence status of a person, other than a United States citizen, applying for a driver's license or identification card."

Mr. House estimated that the additional cost to the State of Oregon, which now has around three million licensed drivers, under the provisions of the REAL ID Act of 2005 would be around half-a-million dollars annually. He agreed that, under the terms of the new law, this would be a "classic unfunded mandate."

The Oregon DMV spokesman also said that the Oregon Legislature was currently considering a bill that would adopt the requirement of checking with the Social Security Administration before issuing a state driver's license under Oregon, rather than federal, law, leaving only the immigration check required under the REAL ID Act of 2005 to be added by the time that law took effect. According to Mr. House, the REAL ID Act of 2005 gives the states three years after its passage to comply with its requirements.

To listen to this audio interview with David House, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles, in its entirety, click here.

You can visit the web site of the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles by clicking here.

To access the complete text of the "REAL ID Act of 2005," taken directly from the "Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes" bill, the conference report on which was passed today by the U.S. House of Representatives on a 368 to 58 vote, click here.

To access the American Politics Today article containing comments about the REAL ID Act of 2005 upon the passage of the conference report containing it by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday by U.S. Representative F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives, click here.