The Battle to Kill the Kill Switch

Last night, Rep. Thomas Massie gave a valiant effort to add our kill switch amendment to the THUD appropriations bill in the U.S. House. We came very close (just 28 votes shy). His floor speech was spot on. It’s hard to believe this isn’t some kind of sci fi movie, but sadly, it’s become reality under the Biden Administration that few even read or vetted before it passed.

We hope through the questions posed to Buttigieg through our letter authored by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA, Chair of Freedom Caucus), we’ll get more details that will help us pull the plug on this dangerous technology being put into every American’s vehicle. This is where the Governor and our Texas legislature should step in to protect our travel liberties from the overreach of the long arm of big government. We’ll continue to step-up our efforts to educate more Texans and members to the threats this technology poses to our constitutional rights.

Apparently one group, MADD, stopped our amendment from passing even though it’s something literally hundreds of groups in Texas alone support, much less Heritage Action, National Motorists Association and Citizens for Renewing America. This isn’t about drunk driving, but mandating this technology be put into every vehicle is an unconstitutional surveillance of Americans that violates our 4th amendment rights. Time is short given the mandate after 2026. This certainly isn’t over.

As far as Texas goes, we had all but one Republican vote with us. Michael McCaul was the LONE Republican from Texas that didn’t vote with us (call his Austin office at (512) 473-2357 to express your displeasure). Even Tony Gonzales and Kay Granger voted for it. The Democrats all marched in lockstep (except Sheila Jackson Lee wasn’t there to vote, obviously with election day yesterday she was in Houston). So our coalition letter and visits to nearly one hundred offices in D.C. had a tremendous impact.

Massie Amendment #60 stated: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to implement section 24220 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” Section 24220 of the IIJA requires all newly manufactured vehicles to be equipped with technology to monitor driver performance and prevent vehicle operation. We need congress to act quickly since this is required on all vehicles manufactured after 2026. 

Under the guise of preventing impaired driving, this technology would limit or stop a motor vehicle’s operation for anything it may detect as ‘impaired’ (which is not even defined in statute). We have grave concerns with this technology with regards to the right to privacy, unconstitutional tracking, and other civil rights violations. When 31 states allow for court-mandated ignition interlock devices (IID) to prevent drivers from starting their car without first passing a self-administered breathalyzer test, there’s no need for another federal mandate.

Rather than having the driver perform a breathalyzer test, section 24220 calls for technology which can “passively monitor the performance of a driver.” This so-called “passive” technology functions automatically, likely through AI technology or internal cameras, to monitor drivers while they operate their own motor vehicle. With advanced impaired driving technology comes the ability to track a vehicle’s location. Therefore, this would likely result in warrantless tracking by the government. A vehicle kill switch mandate is also rife with potential for abuse, both by government and corporate actors.

More media coverage…

In The Federalist here.
Glenn Beck‘s Podcast here.
On Laura Ingraham‘s Show here.
On MSN here.