Monday, December 06, 2004

# 13 Illegal Alien Licenses

The few Republicans in Congress who still have a conscience and/or common sense, realize there's a problem with giving *illegal* aliens driver's licenses (which give them access to almost anything else), but President Bush doesn't care. He's pushing for it anyway. Which country is he president of? Mexico? The U.N? The New World Order? Even without the driver's licenses, this bill is still abhorrent because it infringes upon Americans while doing nothing to truly prevent foreign terrorism - in fact it aids potential foreign terrorists. But that was covered in #3 on the scorecard.

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41778

Why intelligence bill is failing in Congress

Republican opposition wants states to stop providing illegal aliens with driver's licenses

December 5, 2004

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – President Bush intervened again in an effort to get Congress to approve a sweeping intelligence-overhaul bill Republican opponents say is inadequate because it will still permit illegal aliens in many states to acquire driver's licenses. Opponents of the legislation say most Americans don't understand objections to the bill go beyond the question of whether intelligence information gathered domestically will be shared rapidly with military commanders on the battlefield.

The president used his weekly radio address to champion the bill – just a day after Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, expressed doubts about its future. The legislation would enact some of the major recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission and create a cabinet-level director of national intelligence. Warner said he wanted to resolve issues in the legislation that "may impact the time-tested chain of command" within the Defense Department.

But there is another major obstacle to getting the bill passed, say congressional sources. They point out that the Sept. 11 hijackers had acquired a total of 63 driver's licenses, at least some of which were used to support their efforts to kill nearly 3,000 Americans.

While the issue of illegal driver's licenses hasn't received as much attention in the media as a reason for amending or defeating the bill, congressional sources tell WND that a bill without provisions for denying them will only provide the illusion of national security.

"This has become a huge issue for us," said one congressional source. "This is as important to most of us as the question of sharing intelligence tips with the military on the battlefield."

Under the bill, the Pentagon, which now controls about 80 percent of the government's estimated $40 billion intelligence budget, would have to cede some authority to a new national intelligence director.

Congressional sources said they have been involved in talks with White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card and Vice President Dick Cheney on ways to address the problems they see in the legislation.

"Immigration reform is essential," said one of the sources. "Without immigration reform addressed in this bill, my guess is it is going nowhere fast."

In the radio address, Bush said Congress was being given the opportunity to pass "a strong new law" that "would make America more secure" by coordinating the work of the nation's intelligence agencies, and specifically by creating the job of national intelligence director. But the opponents say it does not go far enough.

"I urge members of Congress to act next week so I can sign these needed reforms into law," the president said. "We must do everything necessary to confront and defeat the terrorist threat, and that includes intelligence reform."

Two influential House lawmakers - Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. - are still opposing the legislation.