AUGUSTA — Republican leaders in the Maine House of Representatives have endorsed the security measures that Gov. John Baldacci has proposed to tighten the state's process for issuing driver's licenses.

Minority Leader Joshua Tardy, R-Newport, and Assistant Minority Leader Robert Crosthwaite, R-Ellsworth, say Baldacci is on the right track in proposing changes that include checking the legal status of aliens who apply for a driver's license before issuing one to them.

Baldacci included that change in a package of reforms he unveiled this week to win an exemption from the federal government for complying with the Real ID Act, a federal anti-fraud law designed to make all of the states' driver's licenses more uniform and secure.

Most of the changes will have to be approved by the Legislature before they can take effect.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security granted Maine an extension Wednesday, after Baldacci outlined the proposed changes in a letter to Homeland Security. The extension means Mainers can continue using driver's licenses as identification to board commercial flights and enter federal buildings.

Tardy said in a news release that "issuing licenses to illegal aliens is a threat to national security and worsens the massive problem of identity theft. Our policy of giving licenses to people who sneak into the country in violation of federal law has made a mockery of license security."