mr. speaker , i thank my colleague who ably serves on the permanent select committee on intelligence , as well as the committee on rules , for the time . 
mr. speaker , as the lead conferee on the intelligence reform bill , i oppose the rule on h.r. 418 and the underlying bill because they will not make us safer . 
what h.r. 418 will do is undermine several key provisions of the bipartisan intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act , which congress passed and the president signed into law just 2 months ago . 
those who claim that the so-called real id act will enhance national security are flat wrong . 
remember , all of the september 11 hijackers entered this country with legal immigration documents . 
legislation prohibiting illegal immigrants from obtaining driver 's licenses would not have stopped a single 9/11 hijacker . 
we dealt with this issue responsibly in the intelligence reform legislation . 
the law establishes tough minimum federal standards for driver 's licenses so that all driver 's licenses have certain key security features . 
the law also requires the transportation security administration to set newer standards within 6 months for identification documents which may be used to board commercial airplanes . 
these provisions are much stronger than what is being proposed by h.r. 418 , yet h.r. 418 would repeal these critical new security upgrades . 
mr. speaker , i wholeheartedly agree that if we want to cut down on illegal immigration , we must improve border security . 
just 2 weeks ago , an astute crane operator at the port of los angeles discovered 32 chinese stowaways in a container that had just been unloaded from a panamanian freighter . 
the state of california already prohibits illegal immigrants from getting a driver 's license , but that did not discourage these stowaways from trying to sneak into california and the united states . 
the people at our ports and our borders are our first line of defense . 
that is why the intelligence reform bill included authorization for 10 , 000 new border guards , 40 , 000 new detention beds to hold people awaiting deportation , and 4 , 000 new immigration inspectors . 
yet the president 's 2006 budget does not include funding for any of these new security improvements . 
if we are going to serious about border security , we need more resources and more people at the border . 
i urge my colleagues to retain the real id provisions in the intelligence reform bill and reject this imposter . 
we already have the tools for securing driver 's licenses , and our borders that will truly make our country safer . 
