No one questions the need to ensure that our identity documents are secure, but Real ID will not work in its current form. Real ID will force states to implement new standards, new technology and new procedures for processing and approving driver's license applications.

On May 11, the federal Department of Homeland Security has threatened to impose burdensome new travel restrictions on residents of states that have not received a waiver from the department for compliance with the driver's license provisions of the Real ID Act of 2005. Homeland Security has given states until March 31 to request a waiver that would give them more time to move toward compliance.

The Department of Homeland Security also has threatened to deny access to federal buildings to residents of states that do not seek the waiver.

But on May 11, no state will be in compliance with Real ID.

Implementation of the law in its current form would cost billions of dollars -- up to $180 million in the state of Maine alone. And that doesn't take into account the cost law-abiding citizens will have to pay to obtain new federally mandated ID cards and, in some cases, the cost of birth certificates and other documentation the law requires.

The astronomical cost of this mandate is not the only concern. Real ID requires that states link their DMV databases with every other state, raising major concerns about both privacy and security risks of a nationwide system.

Seven states -- Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Montana and Washington -- have enacted legislation refusing to implement Real ID's driver's license provisions. In Maine, the Senate approved this legislation 34-0 and the House of Representatives by 137-4.

Twenty-seven states -- California, Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Hawaii, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan, Alaska, Utah, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Tennessee -- have all either passed legislation opposing Real ID within the last two years or are considering it.

Calls to repeal Real ID have come from organizations as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union, AARP, Gun Owners of America, Sportsman's Alliance of Maine and many other groups.

Clearly, Americans have serious concerns about the implications of the Real ID Act's mandates for state driver's licenses and ID cards.

On Jan. 11, the Department of Homeland Security issued final rules for Real ID, pushing back full implementation from May 2008 until December 2017, 16 years after Sept. 11, 2001. This is a tacit admission that Real ID is unworkable in its present form. Just delaying its implementation only delays taking the real action we need to make Americans safer and our nation more secure.

We need to repeal Real ID and replace it with a system that will work and does not pass the cost along to state taxpayers.

My legislation, H.R. 1117, The Repeal Real ID and Identification Security Enhancement Act, does just that. It replaces this fundamentally flawed law and brings together the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, states and experts in privacy, civil liberties and constitutional rights to establish national standards that will protect both national security and the privacy and civil liberties of American citizens.

Democrat Rep. Tom Allen has represented Maine's 1st District, which includes York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Knox counties, and part of Kennebec County, in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1996. Currently serving his sixth term in the House, Allen is vying for Maine's U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican.