MurphOnMillerAve wrote:A couple decades ago, I was able to drive from the USA to Canada and return, on a whim, only using my driver's license as i.d. Since then, I have heard a U.S. citizen needs his passport - that even showing his birth-certificate would be insufficient - to get back into the USA. I don't know that as fact, just something I had been cautioned about by a friend when I had been contemplating a repeat short trip thru Upstate NY and into Canada for my wife and me, as a quick jaunt, but was warned otherwise, since my wife never had a passport. So, we did not try making that trip.
Murph
You will need a passport if you leave the country. As of Oct 1 2020 you will need a REAL ID drivers license nondriver license or permit (or other acceptable identification documents. i.e. passport) to board domestic flights and access certain federal facilities.
My drivers license expires this month and my passport expires the last of April so I will be getting the new REAL ID drivers license. I don't no if I will renew the passport or not as I don't intend to leave the country. The passports are good for 10 years.