An amendment to an appropriations bill that ends the Biden-era “kill switch” for vehicles has advanced.
In 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which contained the HALT Drunk Driving Act. The legislation required the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) to create new rules that mandate the installation of anti-drunk driving technology,” Breitbart reports. The tech monitors driving as part of a “passive system.”
The new amendment to terminate the “kill switch” policy was introduced by Reps. Michael Cloud (R-TX), Celeste Maloy (R-UT), and Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D-WA).
“Language to kill the kill switch just advanced out of committee,” Cloud said in a statement. “Our amendment to prohibit the FY27 THUD Appropriations bill from funding the kill switch mandate, advanced out of committee today. Taxpayer dollars should not fund a surveillance system that treats every law abiding American driver as a suspect. As we work to address very real problems, we cannot allow our Constitutional liberties to be shredded or create a world where every American driver becomes a node for data gathering.”
In April, Rep. John James (R-MI) co-sponsored legislation to repeal the “kill switch.”
“I do not support the vehicle kill switch mandate and I never will,” he said. “Letting A.I. decide whether someone can drive their own vehicle is a dystopian nightmare. There are better, more reliable ways to keep the roads safe that don’t involve constantly monitoring millions of innocent people. The potential for abuse is too high. So are the chances that the system could make a mistake, leaving someone stranded in an emergency.”
