mr. chairman , i rise today in support of h.r. 418 , the real id act . 
i supported the intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act last december . 
that legislation helped to streamline the intelligence community and tightened some asylum rules that allowed potential terrorists to remain in our country . 
that was a good bill , but it did not go far enough . 
so i am pleased that the house is debating h.r. 418 -- a bill that i believe will continue to strengthen our borders , further improve identification standards , and close even more asylum loopholes . 
we know that mohamed atta and his gang of terrorists exploited weak identification rules , and , as stated in the 9/11 commission report , `` all but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of identification document , some by fraud. '' h.r. 418 will require that federal agencies only accept licenses and state-issued id cards when states have determined that the holder is lawfully present in the country . 
the bill will also require that temporary visitors to our country receive only temporary identification , and that this identification expire when the terms of the visit expire . 
mr. chairman , this only makes sense . 
i am also pleased that this bill further reforms our asylum system , a system that has unfortunately been ripe for corruption for years . 
we are also addressing the san diego border fence issue and will ensure the expeditious completion of the border fence . 
further , the bill makes aliens deportable for terrorism-related offenses . 
incredibly , current law provided that not all terrorism-related grounds for keeping an alien out of the country are also grounds for deportion . 
this bill closes that loophole . 
the simple fact is that we need to secure our borders . 
today 's bill is another step toward this effort and i believe it will make our country safer . 
i urge my colleagues to support the real id act . 
