Motorists drive cars and other vehicles during the late afternoon commute on Dec. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
If successful, the amendment would have been folded into a much larger bill to fund the departments of War, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Health and Human Services. That larger package went on to pass the chamber in a bipartisan 341-88 vote on Thursday.
DeSantis, who has championed small-government policies in the Sunshine State, blasted the amendment vote in a post to X on Friday morning.
"The idea that the federal government would require auto manufacturers to equip cars with a ‘kill switch’ that can be controlled by the government is something you’d expect in Orwell’s 1984," DeSantis said, referring to the fictional novel by George Orwell warning readers against totalitarianism.
DeSantis’ frustration echoed that of other lawmakers who were left concerned.
ICE FUNDING BILL DRAWS FIRE FROM LEFT AND RIGHT AS SHUTDOWN DEADLINE NEARS
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, June 4, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
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"The looming Orwellian automobile kill switch deadline threatens civil liberties. When your car shuts down because it doesn’t approve of your driving, how will you appeal your roadside conviction?" Massie asked in a post to X as he explained his amendment.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the vote or on whether Republicans should consider some stand-alone piece of legislation to repeal the kill-switch requirement.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-slammed-conservatives-joining-dems-controversial-kill-switch-amendment