Kennedy Calls for REAL ID Delay

Senator John Kennedy requests the President extend the deadline for Real ID another year, citing concerns not nearly enough people will have the new national ID by October 1st.

Kennedy cited reports showing as many as 99 million people will not have the new ID in time. He says without the ID, you can’t fly.

“The very first day as many as 80,000 flyers would be turned away, and that would be a huge inconvenience and hassle for them, and hurt the economy,” says Kennedy.

125 million people are estimated to not have the Real ID yet. Kennedy says it’s not right to force them all to pile into DMVs across the country with less than a year to do it.

“You got to pay extra fees, and basically get a new driver’s license. If other states departments of motor vehicles are as archaic and slow as ours in Louisiana, we are going to have a big mess,” says Kennedy.

Real ID was passed 15 years ago, and Kennedy says he wants to use the year to find out whether or not it’s even needed. So far, he says he’s not convinced.

“Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time, but so far nobody has been able to articulate to me how a national ID would improve security of any kind,” says Kennedy.