Kill switch progress in the U.S. House
Most recently, on June 3, 2026, Rep. Michael Cloud with the help of the House Freedom Caucus ushered through an amendment to the 2027 THUD appropriations bill that substantially halts the kill switch. This Breitbart article tells the tale. The committee adopted the amendment 33 to 26. While this is the most progress we've made so far in halting this dangerous government spy system in every car, the Senate still needs to pass it. Also, an appropriations bill only lasts one year. This still doesn't remove Section 24220 from statute, which is a MUST long-term to protect us from the kill switch.
Third shot to kill the switch
On April 27, 2026, Rep. Chip Roy saw the chance to repeal the kill switch in the re-authorization of FISA Act.This Daily Caller article gives the details. Roy tried to get it attached in the Rules Committee package on the FISA bill, but it was ultmately ruled as not germane to the main bill. However, we agree with Roy that warrantless searches of Americans using FISA is nearly identical to the government spying on every driver in their vehicle -- both are in the name of security.
Second shot to kill the switch
On January 22, 2026, Rep. Thomas Massie once again attempted to de-fund the kill switch in the 2026 THUD appropriations bill in the U.S. House. It was another monumental vote on whether or not to keep funding remote kill switch technology that allows the government to cut power to your car if it doesn't like how you're driving. Fifty-seven Republicans voted with Democrats to keep funding the Biden-era unconstitutional kill switch slated to start going into vehicles this year. Texas Congressman Chip Roy, got the amendment to de-fund the kill switch into the Rules Package on the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) funding bill Wednesday. When the amendment came to the House floor Thursday afternoon, it initially passed in a voice vote, but when a record vote was called, 57 Republicans betrayed their voters to defeat the amendment authored by Massie.
We're headed in the wrong direction when even more Republicans are voting with Democrats to violate our constitutional rights to not spy on us WITHOUT A WARRANT! This was after TURF delivered a grassroots coalition letterin 2025 to every Republican on the House Subcommittee on Transportation & Infrastructure as well as every Texas Republican member of congress. We also provided them with a unanimous resolution from the Republcian Party of Texas asking congress to repeal the kill switch.
First shot to kill the switch
On October 31, 2023, 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. What confounds us, is why we don’t have that same support here from the Texas legislature and the Governor? What can we do to protect Texas from Biden and the radical Left’s overreach that will shut off our ability to drive? If you haven’t seen what this lookslike, this video from Wired Magazine shows just how frightening this will be from inside your car.
Background:
This is about protecting privacy, our constitutional right to NOT be illegally tracked by the government, and to prevent the weaponization of this technology against ALL Americans simply for owning a car.
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.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s reports to congress on the kill switch, this so-called “passive” monitoring by AI technology uses:
• Internal cameras
• Touch sensors
• Realtime breath monitoring and detection systems
• Lane monitoring
• Vehicle tracking, location data, and telematic data collection (by and for the government and likely shared with law enforcement & insurance companies).
Therefore, the remote kill switch technology enables warrantless tracking by the government. A vehicle kill switch mandate is also rife with potential for abuse, both by government and corporate actors. It could be weaponized against drivers in the name of a climate emergency, health emergency, or as a means of punishment for lack of cooperation with the government or to compel citizens to change their behavior in some way.
More media coverage...
In The Federalist here.
Glenn Beck's Podcast here.
On Laura Ingraham's Show here.
On MSN (link expired)
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