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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Republicans and a few Democrats failed to block funding for a 2021 infrastructure law that mandates that all new cars have a built-in “kill switch” Tuesday night.
A proposal by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to block funding for the Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 over a rule that mandates that all car manufacturers put a “kill switch” in all new cars starting in 2026 failed with a 201-229 vote. Those voting against funding included 199 GOP representatives and two Democrats, whereas 19 GOP representatives voted against Massie’s measure. Eight members of the House did not participate in the vote.
🚨 The federal government has mandated that all vehicles sold after 2026 must have a kill switch that can disable your vehicle based on your driving performance.
My amendment to defund that unconstitutional mandate failed tonight.
Here is the roll call:https://t.co/YWufj9BuMv
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 8, 2023
During debate last night on my amendment to defund the 2026 kill-switch mandate for cars, some Democrats claimed the technology wouldn’t monitor or disable cars. Here’s the actual law I had to read to them:
My amendment failed. Link to the roll call vote: https://t.co/YWufj9C2C3 pic.twitter.com/JDN1TltaDo
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 8, 2023
Speaking to the Washington Times, Massie said that he believes that the mandate, which was touted as a measure to fight drunk driving, will be a “train wreck.” In his speech on the House floor, Massie told Congress that the mandate “sounds almost like science fiction … that the federal government would put a kill switch in vehicles that would be the judge, the jury and the executioner on such a fundamental right as the right to travel freely.”
He also wondered if the switch would utilize cameras, listen in on private conversations taking place in vehicles, whether insurance companies could access data collected by the equipment without permission if there would be waiting periods to use cars affected by the switch, and if the Fourth Amendment – which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures – would be heeded by those in a position to use the switch.
GOP Rep. Harriet Hageman, Wyoming’s sole Congresswoman, told Cowboy State Daily that the mandate is “a massive and likely unconstitutional rule and an invasion of privacy on a greater scale than we are used to seeing from our government.” Hageman voted against funding the mandate Tuesday.
“It also leads to several additional questions,” she continued. “How does this technology, in cases not involving the use of a [blood alcohol content (BAC)], determine if the driver is impaired? Could this technology, by killing a vehicle operation, cause a driver and its occupants to be stranded and placed in an even more dangerous situation? What are the implications of this technology malfunctioning?”
According to section 24220 of the Investment and Jobs Act, manufacturers must put a system in cars that can “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identity whether that driver may be impaired” and can stop or limit “motor vehicle operation” if “impairment is detected.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was given three years to determine how the law would be implemented under the same mandate, and the agency has yet to release any regulations related to the mandate, The Truth About Cars noted.
The section also allows for a back door that would allow third parties to access the “kill switch,” allowing for the possibility that anyone from hackers to government entities could stop people from using their cars, raising the question of who would have access to the switch. Indeed, at least one commentator has suggested that the “kill switch” could be used in the case of government lockdowns, and others have noted the problem that the switch would be used by unelected government employees.
“Fact checkers,” however, have responded to the criticism by claiming that it is “hyperbolic,” maintaining that such the switch would not force moving cars would suddenly come to a stop, and that criticisms of it are “distorting” the law.
The European Union (EU), meanwhile, announced that it was mandating similar driver monitoring systems (DMS) in all European cars, also by 2026, though these would be used to supposedly fight distracted driving.
The mandates also come as multiple states and the EU have been imposing bans on gas-powered cars that are set to take effect in 2035.
The hard shift to “clean energy” has been a central plank of the global left-wing climate agenda and a major component of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Great Reset,” which “seeks to ‘push the reset button’ on the global economy” and “reimagine capitalism.”
According to the WEF founder Klaus Schwab, “[e]very country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed.”
The plan would obliterate the fossil fuel industry, destroy reliable access to electricity, implement a “universal basic income,” and replace traditional energy industry jobs with guaranteed government positions protected by unions, LifeSiteNews previously reported.