House lawmakers approved an appropriations amendment aimed at halting funding for implementation of a Biden-era requirement for new vehicle technology purportedly designed to detect impaired driving.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
House conservatives are praising the committee passage of an amendment that would block funding for implementation of a Biden-era vehicle safety mandate critics have labeled an automobile “kill switch.”
The controversy stems from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in 2021 during the Biden administration. The law included the HALT Drunk Driving Act, which directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop rules requiring automakers to install anti-drunk driving technology in new vehicles within five years.
The mandate orders NHTSA to require a “passive system” that can monitor driver performance, detect whether a driver’s blood alcohol concentration is at or above 0.08%, the legal limit, and prevent or limit vehicle operation when impairment is detected.
The provision has generated criticism from opponents who argue it could give the federal government or vehicle systems the ability to stop a car from operating. Supporters argue the technology is intended to reduce drunk driving deaths.
Some existing vehicle systems already monitor driver eye movement, while others use steering inputs and other data to detect driver alertness or impairment. NHTSA could consider such systems as part of its rulemaking under the mandate.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving has argued that the technology could save “more than 10,000 lives each year.”
On Wednesday, Reps. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., offered an amendment to a Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill that would end funding for implementation of the mandate. The House Appropriations Committee adopted the amendment in a 33-26 vote.
MADD CEO Stacey D. Stewart criticized the vote, saying the amendment would undermine a law intended to prevent drunk driving deaths.
“Let’s be clear,” Stewart said. “This was a vote to defund the law. It was a victory for years of inaccurate claims about a law designed to prevent drunk driving and save lives. The vote turns a bipartisan requirement for an auto safety regulation into the possibility of a study, sending a troubling message to victims and survivors who were promised meaningful action to address a crime that continues to kill 32 Americans every day.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., backed the amendment and said the federal government should not have authority over whether Americans can operate their vehicles.
“The government should never have the authority to take control of Americans’ cars,” Clyde said in a statement to Breitbart News. “Kill Switch technology is a dystopian nightmare that we must forcefully reject and defeat at every turn. I’m incredibly pleased that an amendment to kill the Kill Switch was adopted with my support, and I look forward to continuing to fight with my conservative colleagues to ensure this Biden-era, Big Brother mandate never takes effect.”
The amendment’s adoption in committee does not by itself repeal the underlying law, but it would prevent appropriated funds from being used to carry out the impairment-detection requirement if the broader spending bill becomes law with the provision intact.
The fight now moves forward as part of the appropriations process, where lawmakers will decide whether the funding restriction remains in the final transportation spending legislation.
Original article
Comments