NH Senate Floor Real-ID Debate

On Friday, May 4 2006, the New Hampshire State Senate debated HB1582, which would "opt out" New Hampshire from the federal Real-ID program. As I posted here, the end result was that Senator Barnes introduced an amendment that gutted the bill.

So, exactly what happened? Below are a series of 18 clips that answer just that question.
First, some notes:

• This is my own editorial, not the full debate (which is available here); much that is said on the Senate floor is repetitive and, in my opinion, uninteresting. I've left those bits out.


• I've learned many things from the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA). One of the most important is that the very same people you strongly oppose on one issue, will be your greatest allies on other issues.


• Another lesson I learned from NHLA is: "Use politicians' own words against them!" The New Hampshire Republicans are usually on the pro-Liberty side of most issues. Real-ID is the opposite case. Here we have the Democrats arguing for Liberty and smaller government(!) These words they spoke will come in very handy next time I'm opposing a Democrat who is arguing for some socialist tax hike: I'll just ask them how such a position can be reconciled with their quotes below.


• Note throughout how the Republicans seem to be arguing against Real-ID... and then they wound up voting for Barnes' amendment. You can almost smell the pressure applied from Washington.


• It should be noted that two brave New Hampshire Republican Senators did not buckle to the pressure from Washington or from their Party leadership: Senators Gallus and Bragdon. These two brave men deserve much respect and support; I for one will remember them come election time!

The Clips:
Clip 1: Sen. Roberge (R) lays out why Real-ID is bad and why 1582 is good. Real-ID is expensive and will not make us any safer, she says. So why the hell did she vote for the Amendment to gut 1582?

Clip 2: Sen. Barnes (R) utters the utterly indefensible words "I am very happy that our government is ... taking some of our rights away!"

Clip 3: More reasons Senator Barnes is unfit to be a Senator from New Hampshire. "Those are smart fellows, those fellows down there in Washington... they're getting about $200,000 a year, and we're making $92, so they gotta be a lot smarter than we are... they didn't have any real public hearing on this bill... but I have faith in our government; when this war on terror is over, we will have those folks put us back in a peacetime situation"

Clip 4: Sen. Foster (D) asks some really important questions to Barnes: Why does his amendment replace the bill entirely? Did he consider having the commission go forward while 1582 remains in effect? Did he consider simply adding a 'sunset' clause to 1582, so if the commission determines real-ID is a good idea, 1582 automatically goes away? Barnes' answer is "I believe the commission will take care of the situation." Wow! Mr. Barnes, that's an extraordinary amount of faith in a commission that has not even been formed yet!

Clip 5: This is the first clip from Sen. Burling (D), a Democrat who never saw a tax he didn't like. Yet here he is, defending our liberties: "In time of war is when you need to fight hardest for your Liberty." He describes how his Dad was one of the lawyers who investigated the concentration camps that the US Army had created for Americans of Japanese descent. Classic soundbite: "We need to be true to our (State) motto (Live Free or Die)." He also describes Real-ID as a "bureaucratic nightmare"

Clip 6: Burling again. More description of the exact red tape involved with Real-ID. He calls the Federal $3 million "sucker money". Let some other state have the 'privilege' of implementing Real-ID first!

Clip 7: Sen. Hassan (D) observes that "if every state were New Hampshire, we wouldn't need Real-ID"

Clip 8: Hassan says something I am sure we will need to reminder her of many times: "In this state we try very hard to limit the government's power"

Clip 9: Sen. Clegg (R) asserts that we have plenty of time for a commission to study and make a report. Note that Clegg sits on the fiscal committee that stands to accept $3Million from the Feds to implement Real-ID. I sure hope his words here about having plenty of time are true, and that they don't come back to bite him (and all of us)

Clip 10: Sen. Foster asks a question to Clegg about the Feds' $3Million offer.

Clip 11: An excellent discussion between senators Burling and Odell (R). Burling asks if we should stand up for State's rights. Odell says he's concerned, but doesn't want New Hampshire to go against Washington. Odell says the ultimate authority comes at the ballot box. Oh, how right he is....

Clip 12: Sen. Larsen (D) adds to the spectacle of Democrats standing up for limited government and the Constitution. She even quotes article 2 of the New Hampshire constitution. She says that Real-ID is contrary to our "enjoying and defending of life and liberty" and that we must fight to "guarantee our property and home are free from invasion of any government, especially our own, which seeks to pry, and trap." Thanks, Senator Larsen. I'll be reminding you of these next time you try to ban smoking in privately-owned bars!

Clip 13: Sen. Morse (R) offers the most ridiculous reason of all time to give up some of our privacy: "Senator Greg has never let us down!" Hmmm... I'm pretty sure if one dig through the voting records, one can find plenty of cases where U.S. Senator Judd Gregg has voted to curtail our liberties and increase our taxes! He also lobbied our elected State Senators to bring them around to Washington's point of view on this matter. It must also be noted that our other U.S. Senator, John Sununu, is firmly against Real-ID.

Clip 14: Sen. Letourneau (R) says this isn't a national database, since each state keeps its own database. He's only pedantically correct; in fact, all the databases would be linked, and could be consolidated at any time at the whim of the Director of Homeland Security. Letourneau also notes that each of the 9/11 terrorists had a valid drivers license... because those states didn't have a system like New Hampshire's He's quite effective at arguing against the need for Real-ID, isn't he?

Clip 15: Letourneau explains how bad Real-ID will be... in defense of why we should go along with Real-ID?!

Clip 16: Burling and Letourneau discuss how bad Real-ID will be. There is agreement on both sides; Letourneau basically seems to be saying we have to go along because of how bad it will be! He's cowering in fear of the Federal government. Shameful, for a New Hampshire Republican!

Clip 17: Sen. Fuller Clark (D) questions Letourneau. How much can the Feds push, she asks, when is it our responsibility to determine what the Federal government cannot do? You'd never know she was a Democrat, who has never (until now) seen a big-government program she didn't like!

Clip 18: Sen. Kenney (R) notes how there was no debate on Real-ID, and reminds us of that great Republican, Ronald Reagan, who prevented the introduction of a national ID during his administration. Sounds great... except, Kenney voted for the amendment to gut 1582 and give us a national ID!