mr. chairman , i would just say to my good friend from texas ( mr. reyes ) xz4003370 , who is an expert , and we all value his input , we are going to do immigration reform in this congress . 
we are looking forward to working with him on immigration reform . 
but what we are here today about is border security , border security and closing loopholes . 
i just want to thank both sides of the aisle for the thoughtful way that they have conducted this debate . 
i want to thank the gentleman from wisconsin ( chairman sensenbrenner ) and the gentleman from virginia ( chairman tom davis ) and the gentleman from california ( chairman cox ) for their hard work in getting this bill to the floor so early in the new session . 
of all of the issues being debated before us today , the controversy i find most confusing is the section regarding the standardization of driver 's licenses . 
after all , mr. chairman , the war on terror is not being fought in a vacuum . 
there was a time , to be sure , when identification fraud was a matter of concern principally to bouncers and bartenders , but that was before september 11 , 2001 . 
since that day , mr. chairman , id fraud has represented a clear and present danger to the national security of the united states , plain and simple . 
without standards for the issuance or content of driver 's licenses , the american people are needlessly put at risk . 
as long as america boasts the civilized world 's most open laws concerning immigration and mobility while remaining its greatest terrorist target , we must ensure that people coming in and out of our country are not here to do our people harm . 
when someone enters this country and can get a driver 's license , he can board a plane , open a bank account , and get a job . 
if he plans to do these things not to make a better life for himself , but with the express intent of killing americans , and that treachery could be curbed simply by reforming the way we issue driver 's licenses , how can we not ? 
the real id act requires that applicants for driver 's licenses prove that they are in the united states legally , very simple , and that a foreign traveler 's license expires with his visa . 
these are hardly draconian measures , mr. chairman , nor are the sections of the bill that strengthen our deportation and asylum processes . 
these processes are not just loopholes ; they are gaping , yawning chasms in the law waiting to be exploited . 
they are risks , threats even , to the security of our homeland and to our success in the war on terror . 
the reforms in the real id act are overdue , no less an authority than the 9/11 commission itself says so . 
so i just urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation to further help ensure that such events as three septembers ago never again scar our homeland . 
