The previous paragraph should also have been quoted, IMO.
Mohamed Atta, the man believed to be the hijackers' leader, entered the country on June 3, 2000, on a tourist visa. That September he asked to change to a student visa so that he could attend flight school, according to the immigration service. He began taking classes while his request was pending, a common practice among foreign students that was then permitted under immigration law.
So if you don't want to enroll in a school, like most recreational flyers coming to the US on the visa waiver scheme, this new change would not appear to apply. Status quo - for now!
It's not going to be a trivial matter for
companies that rent planes to check citizenship of everybody who walks through the door. Most Americans don't have a passport. When applying for a job here, you have to prove eligibility to work, but that's not the same as proving citizenship. Most people do this using a drivers licence and social security card, neither of which prove citizenship.