Sen. Moreno calls anti-drunk driving tech ‘insane regulation’ at Capitol Hill hearing

Published On: July 18, 2025

WASHINGTON, D. C. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio on Wednesday disparaged anti-drunk driving technology as a waste of money, earning a rebuke from a colleague who was nearly killed in a drunk driving accident

At a confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Westlake Republican categorized an upcoming requirement that impairment detection devices be included in passenger cars as an “insane federal regulation” that contributes to high car prices.

“I don’t drink at all, and yet, in the infrastructure law, which has to do with roads and bridges, they snuck in a provision that, starting in ‘26 model year vehicles, I have to have an impairment detection device in my vehicle before my car can start,” Moreno told NHTSA nominee Jonathan Morrison.

“So why would I have to have an impairment detection device in my car?” said Moreno, a former luxury car dealer who called for lowering vehicle prices at the hearing. “That doesn’t lower the price of cars, right? That raises the price of cars.”

New Mexico Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan responded to Moreno by sarcastically suggesting that cars be made out of plastic, to find “the cheapest car that we can sell to the American people … and more people will die.”

He disputed Moreno’s claim that the anti-drunk driving technology requirement was “snuck in” to the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, saying it was inserted at the request of a bipartisan group of legislators that included Republicans Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rick Scott of Florida.

“I don’t know if you know this, Senator Moreno, but I survived a head-on car collision in my early 20s, when I was driving home from a basketball tournament, because a guy was drunker than s*** and drove right into me,” Lujan told him.

Lujan said that many manufacturers already have the technology needed “not just to tell if you’re drunk, but to tell if you’re impaired,” and that it’s already available in Europe.

The legislation Lujan touted was endorsed by organizations including

Mothers Against Drunk Driving,

which estimates it will save more than 10,000 lives per year and prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries.

Lujan said he was disappointed that the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden didn’t move more quickly to implement the technology and asked Morrison for his commitment to make progress on it.

“It is a day one priority of mine to get in there and get a sense of the state of the technology,” Morrison replied.

Lujan said he hoped both political parties could find common ground on public safety.

“It’s not easy to talk about almost dying,” said Lujan. “Sometimes things happen for a reason, and I guess that I’ve learned from this president, if God gives you another chance, you better do something with it. And I’ll be damned if I’m not going to do something about it.”