There is no good reason for making the new federal identification card — what the federal government has dubbed "Real ID" — a reality.

The Bush administration began with a reasonable idea: An ID card issued only after an ironclad confirmation of identity would be difficult to counterfeit, ensuring that screeners would know exactly who is being cleared for cross-border traveling and for entering federal facilities.

Unfortunately, the execution has been so rushed that many critical considerations have not been thought through. High on the list of fatal flaws is a timetable for completion that's so compressed it places an impossible financial burden on the states.

It was enacted two years ago without a hearing, attached to legislation providing critical funding to the troops and relief to the Indonesia tsunami victims.

The ID program would require linking key databases containing sensitive elements of personal identification, such as Social Security numbers, fingerprints and signatures.

Starting with the deadline and the funding issue, the law's proposed rules require all licensed drivers and individuals issued identification cards be re-enrolled within five years. This is a problem in Honolulu, for example, because the city would be forced to spend far more than is budgeted for license re-enrollment.

And the federal government has made little allowance for helping the states. The total costs for Real ID have been estimated at more than $11 billion nationally; simply developing the electronic systems for interconnecting motor vehicle agencies with federal databases is expected to cost $1.42 billion. So far, Congress has appropriated only $40 million for Real ID. No funds were included for the current fiscal year.

Then there's the enormous issue of privacy rights. A hacker who compromises the Real ID system essentially has a one-stop shopping spree for data that would make identity theft a breeze.

From start to finish, the Real ID mandate is a bad idea. U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka is rightly seeking that the law be repealed and retooled — with sufficient fiscal support and discussion.

Repeal is the only realistic outcome for the ill-considered Real ID Act of 2005.