mr. speaker , for the purposes of debate only , i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from florida ( mr. hastings ) xz4001701 , pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
during consideration of this resolution , all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only . 
this general debate rule provides for 1 hour and 40 minutes of general debate , with 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on the judiciary , 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on government reform , and 20 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on homeland security . 
it waives all points of order against consideration of the bill , and provides that after general debate the committee of the whole shall rise without motion and no further consideration shall be in order except by subsequent order of the house . 
mr. speaker , we are here today to begin the debate on fulfilling congress 's promise to the american people made in the wake of the tragedy of september 11 , 2001 , that our government will do everything it can to protect them from another deadly attack on our homeland . 
this promise was made in the days immediately following september 11 when president bush committed to the american people that the full force of american power would be used to bring terrorists and their sponsors to justice . 
this promise was continued by the efforts of the september 11 commission and the subsequent efforts of congress to study the frailties and oversights of our national security system that the 9/11 terrorists were able to identify , exploit and use against us . 
and this promise will continue again today through the consideration of the real id act of 2005 , which has been authored by my good friend , the chairman of the committee on the judiciary , the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 . 
this legislation continues the reform mission begun by congress in the 9/11 recommendations implementation act . 
by implementing the additional security measures including the real id act , congress will help to ensure that our borders are secure , that terrorists can not travel to america , and that the rule of law is respected by those who come to our nation . 
the narrowly constructed legislation by the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 accomplishes this goal by focusing on four common-sense areas : implementing much-needed driver 's license reform , closing the asylum loopholes , defending our borders , and strengthening our deportation laws . 
implementing the driver 's license reforms included in h.r. 418 will provide greater security for the american people because lax standards and loopholes in the various current state issuance processes allow terrorists to obtain a driver 's license , often multiple drivers ' licenses from different states , and abuse these fake identities for illegal and harmful purposes . 
the september 11 hijackers had within their position at least 15 valid driver 's licenses and numerous state-issued identification cards listing a wide variety of addresses . 
these terrorists were able to exploit many of the benefits conferred upon them by the possession of these cards , such as enabling the bearer to acquire other corroborating identification documents , transfer funds to u.s. bank accounts , obtain access to federal buildings , purchase a firearm , rent a car or board a plane , just to name a few . 
by establishing minimum document and issuance standards for the federal acceptance of driver 's licenses , requiring applicants to prove that they are in the country legally , and requiring identification documents to expire simultaneously with the expiration of lawful entry status , this legislation will ensure that individuals harboring malicious intent who have illegally entered or who are unlawfully present in the united states , can not have access to these valuable and sensitive documents . 
closing the asylum loopholes identified by h.r. 418 will provide greater security for the american people because as the 9/11 commission staff report noted , `` a number of terrorists ... .. 
abused the asylum system. '' by strengthening judges ' ability to determine whether asylum-seekers are truthful and credible , we will be able to prevent future terrorists from gaming the system by applying for asylum as a means to avoid deportation after all other recourses for remaining in the united states have been denied to them . 
this will prevent abuses to the system like the case of the `` blind sheik '' abdul rahman , who was able to stay in the united states and force an immigration judge to hold a hearing on the asylum claim only weeks before his followers bombed the world trade center . 
defending our physical borders , as provided for in the real id bill , will provide greater security for the american people . 
we know from the 9/11 commission that the hijackers had 25 contacts with consular officers and 43 contacts with immigration and customs authorities . 
as a result , the 9/11 commission and congress have recommended and taken a number of appropriate actions that have made it more difficult for terrorists to enter the united states through the visa or other legal immigration process ; and this bill will go even further toward attaining that goal . 
but closing down only the legal means by which they will try to enter and infiltrate our country is simply not enough . 
because increased vigilance has made entering the country through normal , regular channels more difficult , we must also be increasingly prepared for the certainty that terrorists will try to use illegal , clandestine methods to enter our country and to do us harm , and we must now take steps to close those gaps in our border security where we are most vulnerable . 
finally , strengthening our deportation laws as provided for by h.r. 418 will provide greater security for the american people . 
currently , although it seems unbelievable , not all terrorism-related grounds for keeping an alien out of the u.s. are also grounds for deportation . 
this means that terrorists and their closest advocates can be denied entry to the united states for their actions in support of terrorism , but if they are able to make it to our shores , we can not deport them for those same actions . 
the real id act would bring some common sense to this troubling oversight and make the law consistent by providing that all terrorist-related offenses that make aliens inadmissible would also be grounds for deportation . 
it would also provide that any alien contributing funds to a terrorist organization would also be deportable . 
mr. speaker , this rule is intended to allow debate to begin on this important legislation and to give members an opportunity to come to the floor and to voice their support or concerns about its contents as the committee on rules finalizes an appropriate rule for consideration of possible amendments . 
i encourage all of my colleagues to improve america 's national security by supporting this rule to begin the debate on this legislation . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
