H.R.5403, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, would forbid U.S. Federal Reserve banks from "issu[ing] a central bank digital currency, or any digital asset that is substantially similar under any other name or label, directly to an individual," and the Federal Reserve’s board of governors and Federal Open Market Committee from "us[ing] any central bank digital currency, or any digital asset that is substantially similar under any other name or label, to implement monetary policy."
The bill currently has 68 co-sponsors (all Republicans) and cleared the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on September 20 in a 27-20 vote. Emmer previously introduced the bill last year, when it failed to gain traction.
"This bill is simple: It halts the efforts of this Administrative State under President Biden from issuing a financial surveillance tool that will undermine the American way of life," said Emmer, who is also House Majority Whip. "In China, the Communist Party is using a central bank digital currency to track the spending habits of its citizens. The data is being used to create a social credit system that rewards or punishes people based on their behavior."
"Closer to home in the Western Hemisphere, in Canada, the Trudeau Administration froze the bank accounts of individuals involved in the 2022 trucker protests," he continued. "That might work in Canada; that doesn’t work here."
"This appetite for financial surveillance may be gaining a stronghold, unfortunately, right here at home," Emmer warned. "The White House issued an Executive Order placing urgency on central bank digital currency research and development, and the agency reports to that executive order have made it clear that the Biden Administration is not only itching to create a CBDC, but they are willing to trade Americans’ right to financial privacy for a surveillance-style central bank digital currency."
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the financial committee’s ranking Democrat, attacked the bill on the grounds that it "would stifle that research and prevent us from moving forward even if it means that the dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency and even if it means that U.S. citizens lose out on faster, cheaper and simpler payments."