File the Real ID under "Stupid ideas that are now dead stupid ideas that should stay dead".

The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded the failure of an amendment offered to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that would have authorized $300 million of federal funding for states to implement the Real ID driver’s license program, which has been estimated by DHS to cost $23.1 billion. The ACLU deemed the proposal "sucker money" because it aimed to entice states to accept a paltry amount of funding for a flawed program that would ultimately cost millions more in state taxes and licensing fees.

The amendment was killed when a motion to table it passed 49 to 45, after both the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), respectively, spoke passionately against the funding proposal. The death of this amendment means the states will receive no additional federal funding to implement Real ID, dealing a crushing blow to the viability of the unworkable program.

"Real ID is dead in the water, and it is clear that no amount of money can save it," said ACLU Legislative Counsel Tim Sparapani. "The only solution to Real ID is to scrap and replace it, and Congress has caught on. With seventeen states opposed to this program and the U.S. Senate standing behind them, this is the beginning of the end of Real ID. $300 million does not even come close to covering the costs of the program, and it is not enough to lure Americans to give up their privacy."

Failure of Real ID Funding Proposal. [ACLU]