GOP Rift Erupts After 57 Republicans Work With Democrats To Protect ‘Orwellian’ Way To Shut Off Cars
Conservatives erupted after dozens of Republican lawmakers rejected an amendment Thursday night to block funding for a controversial Biden-era vehicle “kill switch” mandate.
Republican Party privacy advocates have warned that failing to block the application of technology that would disable impaired drivers’ cars would give the government excessive powers over American life. Still, 57 House Republicans joined all but four voting Democrats in rejecting the amendment by a vote of 164 to 268. (RELATED: ‘Juror And The Executioner’: Thomas Massie Presses DOT Official On ‘Kill Switch’ Warrant)
Had the amendment, sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, been successful, the $1.2 trillion spending package that was overwhelmingly approved by the House on Thursday would have been barred from funding enforcement of a “kill-switch” mandate.
Massie and other conservative lawmakers have for years sought to overturn a provision of former President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021, which would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop kill switch technology for passenger cars. The sweeping infrastructure bill was passed by Congress with bipartisan support.
The IIJA provision calls for the development of impaired driving technology that can “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired” in passenger cars sold after 2026. The Vehicle Safety Standards Agency has not yet required or developed “kill switch” technology.
“The looming Orwellian automotive kill switch deadline threatens civil liberties,” Massie wrote in X Wednesday, using a common phrase to describe totalitarian control of government, as described in the writings of 20th century author George Orwell. “When your car stops because it doesn’t approve of your driving, how will you appeal your traffic conviction? »
Republican Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy of Texas also sponsored the amendment.
“The vehicle kill switch is precisely the kind of override that will allow regulatory agencies to manage behavior without votes from elected representatives in Congress or real accountability,” Clyde Wayne Crews, a Fred L. Smith fellow in regulatory studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) attends a January 6 House Select Subcommittee hearing in the Rayburn House office building January 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Yet a group of senior Republicans and members of the conference’s moderate faction helped reject Massie’s amendment.
Republicans who could face tough reelection bids — Reps. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Jen Kiggans of Virginia — joined nearly all Democrats in rejecting the measure.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino of New York and Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill of Arkansas also voted “no.”
Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, a Senate candidate who has come under scrutiny for missing a series of recent votes, did not vote, as did Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California.
Democratic Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Lou Correa of California and Val Hoyle of Oregon voted for Massie’s amendment.
“Very disturbing,” Texas Republican Rep. Keith Self wrote on X after Thursday’s vote failed.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis described the “kill switch” mandate as “something you’d expect in Orwell’s 1984” in an article on X criticizing Republican lawmakers who opposed the amendment.
The failure of efforts to roll back the Biden-era mandate comes as conservatives have expressed growing frustration with the House Republican conference’s repeated failures to pass legislation favored by the base.
A group of defector Republicans joined Democrats on Jan. 14 to block amendments that would have defunded an agency with a well-documented history of bias against conservatives. A Republican-led effort to cut funding for two federal judges accused of anti-Trump bias also failed after a group of Republicans dissented.
“We are gutless, compromised and not doing what we said we were going to do,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said in a video Thursday evening.
Former Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from Congress in January following a falling out with Trump, noted that nearly all Republicans who opposed blocking the kill switch mandate had the president’s support.
“But Thomas Massie is baaaddddddd!!!!” Greene added, referring to Trump’s well-known disdain for the libertarian Kentucky lawmaker.
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