On Wednesday, Feb. 22, the Democrats’ Driver’s Licenses for All bill passed out of the Senate with party-line votes. During the extensive floor debate, Senate Republicans proposed key amendments highlighting the lack of safeguards in the bill and how it will make Minnesota susceptible to abuse and fraud. The Senate majority, however, accepted none of the Republican proposals.

Senator Bill Weber (R-Luverne) released the following statement:

I am supportive of the concept of driver’s licenses for non-citizens and its aim to ensure safer roads. What I find problematic is that this ID will be identical to the license of a legal Minnesota resident. Our driver’s licenses confirm identification in a variety of official capacities, and the Driver’s Licenses for All bill provides cover to those who wish to do us harm.

And when combined with a Democrat bill that ties automatic voter registration to a driver’s license application, our elections will be severely compromised. We offered an amendment to address this by denoting that the license is for driving privileges only and not for voting usage. The Democrat majority, however, refused to accept this simple fix.