The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, the first anti-central bank digital currency legislative effort introduced in the United States. Congressman Tom Emmer detailed that the bill halts the efforts of the Biden administration “from issuing a financial surveillance tool that will undermine the American way of life.”

CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act Advances

U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) announced Wednesday that the House Financial Services Committee has passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, which he and 50 other lawmakers reintroduced in Congress last week.

“It’s the first anti-central bank digital currency [CBDC] legislative effort introduced in the United States,” Emmer emphasized, noting that he has been working on the bill for over three years.

“Today, this bill has the support of 60 members of Congress and groups ranging from the Independent Community Bankers Association and American Bankers Association to Club for Growth, Heritage Action, and the Blockchain Association,” the congressman detailed, elaborating:

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.

The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act prevents the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals, including through intermediaries. This will ensure “the Fed cannot mobilize into a retail bank able to collect personal financial information on Americans,” the lawmaker described. Moreover, “the legislation prohibits the Federal Reserve from using any CBDC to implement monetary policy, ensuring the Federal Reserve cannot use a CBDC as a tool to control the American economy,” he added.

Emmer pointed out that in China, the Communist Party is using a central bank digital currency to track the spending habits of its citizens. Meanwhile, in Canada, “the Trudeau administration froze the bank accounts of individuals involved in the 2022 trucker protests. That might work in Canada, that doesn’t work here,” he said.

The lawmaker warned of growing interest in financial surveillance in the U.S. “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,” Emmer cautioned.

“Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, a central bank digital currency … is government-controlled programmable money that, if not designed to emulate cash, could give the federal government the ability to surveil and restrict Americans’ transactions,” the lawmaker stressed, warning:

This is not just alarming – it’s downright un-American. We’ve already seen examples of governments weaponizing their financial system against their citizens.

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