Washington – Bowing to protests from governors and Congress, the Bush administration is giving states another year and a half to comply with uniform driver’s license standards aimed at foiling terrorists.
The agreement Thursday cleared one obstacle to passage of a major homeland-security bill and produced a victory for moderate GOP senators.
Still, President Bush’s veto threat over one provision slowed the bill’s progress.
Moderate Republicans said the delay on driver’s license regulations would ease the financial burden on states struggling to comply.
Under the deal, states could spend up to 20 percent of their grant money from the Homeland Security Department on complying with the new standards.
Governors had said that complying with the new regulations by the original deadline of May 2008 would cost $11 billion over the next five years.
The new rules are inspired directly by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Two of the 19 hijackers that day boarded the planes with phony driver’s licenses obtained by paying $100 to an illegal immigrant. The licenses helped them purchase the airplane tickets and rent cars, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Under the new regulations, applicants for state driver’s licenses will have to prove their identity and establish that their status in the country is legal – as well as their date of birth, Social Security number and address.
