Press Releases • May 2016 • Real ID and Federal Control: An Explainer from CCHF President Twila Brase (January 25, 2021)

There’s Still Time to Say ‘No’ to REAL ID in Minnesota

 
For Immediate Release

May 19, 2016
 
CONTACT:
Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102, or Beth Harrison, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com
 
There’s Still Time to Say ‘No’
to REAL ID in Minnesota
 
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom: We Cannot Allow a Federal Government Takeover of Our Documents Through REAL ID
       
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Despite the fact that the Minnesota House and Senate have passed bills that will force REAL ID on Minnesotans, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), which staunchly opposes the national federal identification system, says the next few days will be crucial in protecting residents from this dangerous law.
 
“There is still opportunity to say ‘no’ to REAL ID in Minnesota. It’s not law yet,” said Twila Brase, co-founder and president of CCHF. “As the House and the Senate come together to work out details for a final bill, we ask them to back away from REAL ID altogether. The window to protect Minnesotans from the dangers of the federal REAL ID system is very short, as decisions must be made in the coming days, with a deadline of midnight Sunday. Minnesota should, like other states that prohibit REAL ID, continue to protect its people from this national ID system and the violation of state and individual rights under the 10th Amendment.”
 
Brase also says that REAL ID could turn into a National Patient ID, which would impact much more than travel.
 
“REAL ID is the federal takeover of all the documents we need to buy and sell, drive, travel and access services, among other things,” Brase said. “Homeland Security has unilateral authority to determine its ‘official purposes.’ In time, it could also become a National Patient ID, limiting access to health care choices—in other words, no card, no care. We cannot allow the federal government to have control over our traveling and buying and movements and medical care through an ID card. It’s wrong and it’s unconstitutional. REAL ID is the wrong direction for states, it’s the wrong direction for the country, it’s the wrong direction for freedom and it’s the wrong direction for protecting the constitutional rights of Americans.”
 
In 2009, Minnesota passed a bipartisan law prohibiting REAL ID. Says Brase, “This is a chance to say, ‘We were right in 2009, let’s not move away from that law.’ It’s a chance to remind ourselves why the protective 2009 law should stand.”
 
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security educates Americans that they do not need REAL ID to fly, drive, vote, or access federal buildings. Read more here. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) also communicates in a blog post that Americans still have non-ID options for flying. TSA also accepts at least 15 forms of ID to fly if a person wants to get through security more quickly by using an ID.
 
CCHF, a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights, also shares “17 Facts About REAL ID” on its website.
 
For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.
 
 
CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.

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