REAL ID is relevant to our health freedom because the long-term goal is to have a one-stop-shop for personal data, which includes health. With the digitization of health records, telehealth, the dawn of vaccine passports, we have a real danger of the dots being connected with things like a digital wallet and banking. In that situation, health data could be linked to purchase power, along with the travel freedom and building access already threatened by REAL ID. Having all your info on your cell phone (which is the goal of REAL ID) is being sold as convenience, but it’s really about control.
We are in a tornado of action from this new administration and congress. You know Stand for Health Freedom is about maximizing impact, and that is why we are reaching out. We believe this is one of the most crucial health freedom topics of the moment, and the strategic window of opportunity has opened!
Letter to Rand Paul Requesting CRA (Congressional Review Act) for TSA’s “Progressive Enforcement” REAL ID RULE (Issued Jan. 14, 2025)
Dear Senator Paul,
Thank you for your attention to this critically important and very time-sensitive issue. It was unfortunate that I was not able to discuss this with you or your Homeland Security staff when I was recently in D.C., however Florida told me she would share it with committee staff.
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom has a mission to protect patient and doctor freedom. For decades, that mission has included the protection of privacy rights, the foundation of freedom.
The REAL ID law is an unconstitutional NATIONAL ID that puts federal government in charge.
The TSA (and DHS) released a final REAL ID rule on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. The TSA, along with the Department of Homeland Security:
- Maintains the May 7, 2025 deadline for individual (“card-based”) compliance.
- Authorizes “progressive enforcement” (including “three strikes” system) for two years.
- Sets May 7, 2027 as the date by which full compliance of Americans is expected.
REQUEST: We are asking you to submit a CRA (Congressional Review Act) on the recent “progressive enforcement” REAL ID Rule to stop this unconstitutional law and rule.
As Pennsylvania and Missouri state legislators separately wrote to President Trump in 2017, the REAL ID is a “usurpation of states’ rights” and a violation of privacy rights.
In December 2023, AAMVA told Congress in testimony titled “Beyond REAL ID,” of their plans to embed the REAL ID on cell phones with real-time, remote access to the credential. Such government access would not only be an unprecedented infringement on citizen autonomy, but it would also lay the groundwork for a China-like social credit system.
Furthermore, the Secretary of Homeland Security is authorized by law to unilaterally determine “official purposes” of the REAL ID. The possible required uses are endless. The requirement to show a REAL ID could eventually be imposed for access to health care, buying a gun, access to national parks, getting married, renting a car, getting a mortgage, paying for a hotel room, getting a bank account, and much more.
When the first REAL ID rule was released in 2008, 37 states prohibited compliance. A few states, like South Dakota, did not. Unfortunately, South Dakota began complying in 2009 and is now 99% compliant. On the other hand, in Maine, where legislators are moving to end state compliance with the federal REAL ID law, only 19% of ID and DL cards are compliant.
Deception advanced REAL ID. Behind the backs of governors, many DMVs worked with DHS in violation of these anti-REAL ID state laws, as reported in a May 2020 Publius article.
In 2016, the Obama administration pushed for compliance using a “you can’t fly” lie. Even DHS, in documents, agrees that a REAL ID is not necessary to fly in the U.S. There are other options, including submitting to a search if you don’t have any ID. However, the lie scared constituents of legislators who passed state laws conforming with the federal REAL ID Act. Today, according to the TSA/DHS proposed rule, all 50 states are in conformance—but 44% of cards—IDs and driver’s licenses—are not. This is good news.
Our organization is leading the opposition to REAL ID, providing education and encouraging Americans not to comply with this violation of their 4th and 10th Amendment rights. In October, we helped secure more than 31,000 public comments against the TSA’s proposed “progressive enforcement” REAL ID rule, issued September 12, 2024 (and finalized 1/14/2025).
The time to submit the CRA is short, as you know.
Most news media is again wrongly saying people cannot fly if they don’t comply.
We need your help to stop REAL ID in its tracks.
Senator Paul, we know of your long opposition to REAL ID (e.g. 2017 Repeal REAL ID bill) and are requesting that you use the CRA to stop TSA’s progressive enforcement rule. The Senate Steering Committee supports this CRA. It would shut down REAL ID for years.
CCHF would be pleased to work with you to bring the necessary attention (and truth) to this critical issue before the remaining 44% of Americans have submitted to a NATIONAL ID.
I can be reached directly at twila@cchfreedom.org or 612-619-1889. The CCHF office number is 651-646-8935 or info@cchfreedom.org.
Twila Brase, RN, PHN
Co-founder and President
Member, Trump HHS Quality Summit, 2019
