After twenty years of resistance by individuals and state governments; twenty years of failed threats, intimidation, and extortion by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to get states to administer and participate in a distributed national-ID scheme; twenty years of construction of an outsourced, unaccountable national ID database; and twenty years of lies by the DHS and TSA about what the REAL ID Act requires and whether states and individuals are “complying”; it’s time to repeal the REAL-ID Act of 2005.

Last month Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced S. 2769, a short, simple bill to repeal the REAL-ID Act of 2005 in its entirety. This isn’t a bill to “reform” or put “guardrails” on the REAL-ID Act. It’s not amendable to reform. The REAL-ID Act was a bad idea from the start, hastily enacted at the height of post-9/11 panic with no hearings or debate. It’s time to acknowledge that mistake, and to repeal the REAL-ID Act. S. 2769 is long overdue.

We urge other US Senators from both sides of the aisle to co-sponsor S. 2769,  and US Representatives to introduce the similar legislation in House.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Sen. Paul has the opportunity to convene hearings on repeal of the REAL-ID Act. We’d welcome a chance to testify about the hidden national ID database we uncovered, the DHS and TSA lies, and the TSA’s attempts to prevent us from even reading its new digital REAL-ID rules. And the committee would have a chance to hear from some of the state legislators who’ve been opposing the REAL-ID Act and its burdens on their states and their residents since its enactment. Sen. Paul is also ideally positioned to get REAL-ID Act repeal considered by the full Senate, either as a standalone bill or as part of a larger legislative package.

We look forward to working with Sen. Paul and to seeing S. 2769 become law. It’s time!