Reintroduced anti-CBDC bill passes US House Financial Services Committee

The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (H.R. 1919) passed voting in the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, with 27 in favor and 22 opposed.

The bill, introduced by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., aims to prevent the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy and prohibit Federal Reserve banks from offering products and services directly to an individual.

"The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act ensures that the United States digital currency policy is in the hands of the American people, not the administrative state," said Emmer during Wednesday's markup session. 

The anti-CBDC bill stems from ongoing concerns over the potential broad monitoring of financial transactions by the government. Emmer previously stated that CBDCs are "government-controlled programmable money" that could give the U.S. government the ability to "choke out" politically unpopular activity. "[The bill] reflects our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness," Emmer said Wednesday.

The House Majority Whip introduced his previous anti-CBDC bill, H.R. 5403, in 2023. The bill passed the House Financial Services Committee vote and the House of Representatives vote in 2024, moving to the Senate. However, it did not receive a voting schedule before the 118th Congress ended in January.

Democratic lawmakers previously criticized the efforts to ban CBDCs as anti-innovation, where Rep. Maxine Waters said that banning CBDC would mean the U.S. would lose out on innovative means of payments and lead to the dollar losing its status as the world's reserve currency.

According to the Atlantic Council's CBDC tracker , 134 countries and currency unions, which represent 98% of global GDP, are exploring a CBDC, where 66 countries are in advanced stages of exploration.

The reintroduced anti-CBDC bill H.R. 1919 aligns with right-wing President Donald Trump's January executive order to "protect" U.S. citizens from CBDCs, which may pose a threat to financial stability, individual privacy and U.S. sovereignty. In line with this stance, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated in February that the Fed will not develop a digital currency under his leadership. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said in January that he sees "no reason" for the country to have a CBDC.

Meanwhile, the House Financial Services Committee also voted to advance the legislation for stablecoin regulation during Wednesday's markup session. The "Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy" bill seeks to set a framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins to grow their global competitiveness.