[Pages H3427-H3434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ANTI-CBDC SURVEILLANCE STATE ACT

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 580,
I call up the bill (H.R. 1919) to amend the Federal Reserve Act to
prohibit the Federal reserve banks from offering certain products or
services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank
digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes, and ask
for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 580, the

[[Page H3428]]

amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on
Financial Services, printed in the bill, is adopted, and the bill, as
amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

H.R. 1919

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Anti-CBDC Surveillance State
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS RELATING TO
CERTAIN PRODUCTS OR SERVICES FOR INDIVIDUALS
AND PROHIBITION ON DIRECTLY ISSUING A CENTRAL
BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY.

Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 411 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(18)(A) A Federal reserve bank may not--
``(i) offer financial products or services directly to an
individual;
``(ii) maintain an account on behalf of an individual; or
``(iii) issue a central bank digital currency, or any
digital asset that is substantially similar under any other
name or label.
``(B) In this paragraph, the term `central bank digital
currency' has the meaning given that term under section
10(11)(D).''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS INDIRECTLY
ISSUING A CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY.

Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 411 et
seq.), as amended by section 2, is further amended by adding
at the end the following paragraph:
``(19)(A) A Federal reserve bank may not offer a central
bank digital currency, or any digital asset that is
substantially similar under any other name or label,
indirectly to an individual through a financial institution
or other intermediary.
``(B) In this paragraph, the term `central bank digital
currency' has the meaning given that term under section
10(11)(D).''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION WITH RESPECT TO CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL
CURRENCY.

Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 241 et
seq.) is amended by inserting before paragraph (12) the
following:
``(11) Prohibition with respect to central bank digital
currency.--
``(A) In general.--The Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System may not test, study, develop, create, or
implement a central bank digital currency, or any digital
asset that is substantially similar under any other name or
label.
``(B) Monetary policy.--The Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee
may not use a central bank digital currency to implement
monetary policy, or any digital asset that is substantially
similar under any other name or label.
``(C) Exception.--Subparagraph (A) and sections
16(18)(A)(iii) and 16(19)(A) may not be construed to prohibit
any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless,
and private, and fully preserves the privacy protections of
United States coins and physical currency.
``(D) Central bank digital currency defined.--In this
paragraph, the term `central bank digital currency' means a
form of digital money or monetary value that is--
``(i) denominated in the national unit of account;
``(ii) a direct liability of the Federal Reserve System;
and
``(iii) widely available to the general public.''.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System currently does not have the
authority to issue a central bank digital currency, or any
digital asset that is substantially similar under any other
name or label, and will not have such authority unless
Congress grants it under Congress's Article 1 Section 8
powers.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for
1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking
minority member of the Committee on Financial Services or their
respective designees.
The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Waters) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill).

General Leave

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume in support of H.R. 1919.
This bill has been before us in this House Chamber. We debated it in
the last Congress. It has had the outstanding leadership support and
advocacy by our majority whip here in the House, Mr. Tom Emmer of
Minnesota. I rise in strong support.
At stake is a fundamental choice about the future of money in
America, a choice between freedom or government control. Central bank
digital currencies, or CBDCs, put the government at the center of every
financial transaction: monitoring, controlling, and possibly
restricting how Americans could use their own hard-earned money. An
American Government-controlled digital dollar threatens to open the
door to government overreach here at home.
It would threaten individual privacy and stifle innovation by
undermining progress that we have seen from private-sector solutions
like we just talked about on the House floor, privately issued U.S.
dollar-backed payment stablecoins.
That is a continuation of the evolution of the private-sector guiding
the expanse of our money, how we use our money to make payments,
formerly starting out with cash. We wrote checks. We use debit cards
and ATM cards at the point of sale. We use credit cards. We can send
money by wire transfer or by an electronic check. The private sector
has innovated all along that continuum of financial technology, and
that is why today we don't want the Fed to drive that, to potentially
control it, to issue it, for individuals to bank at the Fed and be
subject to these risks to privacy or surveillance. Let's stick with the
approach of private-sector solutions.
We have already seen small glimpses of this possibility under the
prior administration. The chair of the House Financial Services
Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations, Dan Meuser of
Pennsylvania, has been having a robust discussion about the debanking
policies of the prior administration for politically disfavored
industries.
The capability for the government then to follow on and directly
freeze or delete Americans' funds on a whim is not compatible with our
values, our cherished freedoms, our way of life, or even the past
approach to the evolution of payments in our country.
Moreover, a government-run digital dollar would put the Federal
Reserve potentially in direct competition with the private sector.
Further, a CBDC would create unnecessary risks by consolidating
financial power within the Federal Government, limiting choice and
threatening the very innovation that made American financial markets
the strongest in the world.
For all these reasons, I am thankful that consistently my friend, our
colleague, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, has been leading the charge to
prohibit the implementation of a U.S. central bank digital currency. I
thank him for the work he has done to elevate this issue in the
Congress and bring this bill before us once again for a vote on this
House floor.
I hope all my colleagues can recognize that Article I determines how
we issue money and how we value it, that that is a power of the
Congress, and that we are not delegating it to the executive. We
control that in Article I. This bill says that you can't issue a CBDC
without that specific explicit authority and direction from the
Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting Mr.
Emmer's bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

{time} 1150

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, over the last hours we heard arguments from the other
side of the aisle that the United States must prioritize innovation.
The Republican crypto bills we considered will create giant loopholes
in our Federal financial laws that put consumers and investors at risk
in the name of innovation.
These bills would increase the chance of another costly financial
crisis like the one in 2008 that led to trillions of dollars of wealth
being wiped out in the name of innovation.
It comes as a surprise to me that the last bill we will debate would
block any research, pilots, or consideration about how to digitize the
U.S. dollar, it is the reason that I call H.R. 1919 the anti-innovation
act.
We have been discussing a lot about cryptocurrency. We have talked
about two different acts, which are the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act.
We have talked about a lot of intricacies of crypto. The general public
does not understand all of this because the big

[[Page H3429]]

issuers, the big boys, literally kind of own all of the information.
They are the issuers, et cetera, et cetera.
It is time for the United States Government to take charge, and our
central bank must be involved in the study and the research so that we
don't have issuers with crypto or anything else without the Federal
Government knowing about it and being in control.
H.R. 1919 would immediately halt and prohibit the United States from
any research and exploration of the benefits of a central bank digital
currency, or CBDC. A central bank digital currency is essentially a
digital version of the dollar, issued by the Federal Government, that
uses crypto technology known as blockchain to record everything and
everybody who owns tokens. Open it up. Let us know who the big issuers
are.
There are two types of CBDCs, and this bill bans both of them. A
retail CBDC is made available directly to consumers from the Federal
Reserve, from a bank, or other Federal institutions. A wholesale CBDC
is not available to the public but only to the banks and other
financial institutions. This bill would ban both of these kinds of
CBDCs.
Mr. Speaker, when Republicans raise concerns about CBDCs, they are
talking about retail CBDCs, but because they are so averse to knowledge
and averse to studying things, they have no idea that their bill blocks
research into other forms of digitizing the dollar that would truly cut
costs for people.
For example, J.P. Morgan Chase has estimated that $100 billion could
be saved in cross-border transactions every year if a wholesale CBDC is
adopted. Earlier this week in the Rules Committee, we heard Republicans
claim that we need to weaken oversight of private crypto because doing
so will help cross-border payments.
I ask my colleagues across the aisle: Why should we abandon any
research into making the greenback ready for the future? If this bill
passes, the United States would be the only country in the world to ban
any research in the world on CBDC. What are my colleagues afraid of?
Why do they not want the knowledge explained?
Mr. Speaker, 137 countries are racing ahead. Some are studying, and
others are issuing their own CBDC. The foreign currency markets are
evolving, but Republicans want to stick their heads in the stand. Those
137 countries and currency unions represent 98 percent of the global
GDP, and China is one of the frontrunners in the global race to
implement a viable CBDC.
Do my friends across the aisle know why China is quickly rolling out
its digital currency? It desperately wants to create an alternative to
the U.S. dollar to determine the dominance of our currency.
Mr. Speaker, America reaps great riches because our currency, the
dollar, is the premium currency used around the world for all sorts of
trade. It is used from sales of oil to commodities to financial
contracts.
One of those benefits is that when we take out a loan to buy a car or
use our credit cards, our interest rates are much lower than in other
countries. Another benefit is that the United States can pressure bad
actors from Iran to Russia to China by cutting off access to our
financial system and the dollar using sanctions.
Those same countries would love to replace the dollar with their
currency or something else. One way China hopes to do this is to show
that the dollar is an antiquated currency, whereas the Chinese currency
is the future.
It is so shortsighted to not even study how the dollar could be
digitized, especially during the same week that Republicans want to let
private companies create their own currency.
It is very important for all of us to understand that if we want to
be innovative and if we want innovation, we will study and we will
understand so we then will be able to explain. If we really want to
protect the American dollar, we will not put our heads in the sand. We
will allow this research to go on to make sure that the American dollar
stays strong even in digital.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the
Congressional Budget Office estimate for this bill.

H.R. 1919, ANTI-CBDC SURVEILLANCE STATE ACT, AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES ON MAY 6, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, millions of
dollars--
-----------------------------------
2025 2025-2030 2025-2035
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Direct Spending (Outlays)........... 0 0 0
Revenues............................ * * *
Increase or Decrease (-) in the * * *
Deficit............................
Spending Subject to Appropriation 0 0 0
(Outlays)..........................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* = between -$500,000 and $500,000.

Increases net direct spending in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2036? No.
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive
10-year No periods beginning in 2036? No.
Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? Yes.
Mandate Effects:
Contains intergovernmental mandate? No.
Contains private-sector mandate? No.
H.R. 1919 would prohibit the Federal Reserve banks from
providing products or services directly to individual
consumers and from maintaining such accounts on their behalf.
The bill also would prohibit testing, studying, developing,
creating, or implementing a central bank digital currency and
bar the banks from using such a currency to implement
monetary policy.
The bill's prohibition on the Federal Reserve studying the
use of digital currency would result in administrative cost
savings. Such savings increase remittances from the Federal
Reserve to the Treasury, which are recorded in the budget as
revenues. CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase
revenues by an insignificant amount over the 2025-2035
period.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Nathaniel
Frentz. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.

Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil), our distinguished chair of the
Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial
Intelligence.
Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr.
Hill) for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance
Act. I thank Whip Emmer for his leadership on this issue. He was
actually one of the first in Congress to raise the alarm. Since then,
the case has only grown stronger about the risks posed by U.S. CBDC.
Mr. Speaker, the global economy is at a crossroads when it comes to
digital payments. Jurisdictions around the world are upgrading their
payment systems to be faster, to be cheaper, and cross-border. The
private sector is leading the way, including payment stablecoins to
enhance the payment rails.
As the United States grapples with modernizing our own payment
systems, we are confronted with a choice. Do we empower free-market
solutions that protect privacy and protect individual liberty, or do we
centralize control over payments in the hands of the Federal
Government?
Mr. Speaker, the choice is clear to me. Federal Reserve Governor
Christopher Waller has repeatedly warned that a CBDC is ``a solution in
search of a problem.'' Nonetheless, Mr. Speaker, in 2022, in his
executive order on Responsible Development of Digital Assets, President
Biden sought to explore a U.S. central bank digital currency placing
``the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the
potential design and development options of a United States CBDC.''
President Trump understands a CBDC's threat to our American freedoms.

{time} 1200

In his January 2025 executive order, President Trump explicitly
prohibited any Federal agency from issuing or advancing a CBDC without
direct congressional authorization.
In a free society, Mr. Speaker, financial privacy and private
property rights must be protected. The American economy thrives on
choice, competition, and liberty, not on coercion and control.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this bill, preserving
liberty, protecting privacy, and ensuring the United States of America
is a global leader in financial innovation.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), who is also the ranking member of the
Subcommittee

[[Page H3430]]

on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
He knows more about digital assets than anybody on the opposite side of
the aisle.
Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her confidence
and for yielding time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1919, the so-called
Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. At the expense of U.S. global
economic leadership, this misguided legislation would prevent the
Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, also
known as a CBDC.
Unfortunately, the facts surrounding the development of CBDC have
been obscured by disinformation, conspiracy theories, and extreme
political ideology. Republicans and the crypto industry have made
unfounded claims that a CBDC will be used as a surveillance tool by the
Federal Government.
Let's be clear about what a CBDC is. It is a publicly issued digital
dollar that would be regulated by the Federal Reserve, an independent
Federal Reserve, that would have the full faith and backing of the U.S.
Government. A CBDC could serve as an alternative to existing forms of
payments, and it will have benefits, including instant payment
settlement, providing a medium for cross-border transactions, and
fostering greater financial inclusion. Additionally, Congress could
require that the architecture of a central bank digital currency not
have surveillance capability.
More than 130 countries are or have been studying or have launched
their own government-backed digital currencies, including every major
world power. Meanwhile, the U.S. remains far behind amid increasing and
blatant misinformation about the features of digital currency.
Let's talk about the EU. It is widely acknowledged that the EU has
one of the most stringent data protection regimes and protection laws
on the planet. They have strict data protections, number one, on the
GDPR, so EU citizens have access to control of their personal data.
They have the right to be forgotten, which would prevent data
surveillance and surveillance of citizens, and they have strict
penalties for companies that violate their personal data rights.
The United States could have the same in a U.S. digital currency.
There is a widening gap between the U.S. and its G7 peers, all of whom
have far more advanced CBDC projects than the U.S.
I will go back to the EU. The EU is in the final stages of a pilot
retail CBDC program already. They are so far ahead of us. They are
going to capture the future if we adopt this bill.
The U.S. Government has always led the way in harnessing technology
to promote innovation. DARPA and NASA space programs are clear examples
of what happens when the U.S. invests in research and development.
While concerns about data privacy could be real, we have the ability
to protect that data in any architecture that we adopt. It is
counterintuitive that my colleagues would be raising concerns about
data privacy while thousands of private companies are scooping up data
every single day.
Mr. Speaker, vote ``no'' on this bill.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman
from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), who is the chair of our House Financial
Institutions Subcommittee.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my friend from
Minnesota, Whip Emmer's bill, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, a
bill I am proud to cosponsor. This bill would prohibit the Federal
Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, or a CBDC, to
anyone.
I don't think the Federal Reserve has the authority to do this. In
fact, a cursory, simple review of the Federal Reserve Act shows that
the Federal Reserve does not have the legal authority to issue a CBDC
to individuals absent explicit authorizing legislation from Congress.
The Supreme Court has also recognized Congress' power to coin money and
regulate the value thereof, implicitly denying to the executive branch
or to the Fed the ability to do this without congressional authority.
That said, I think it is prudent to explicitly deprive the Fed of the
authority to do this for a variety of reasons.
As has been said, Americans' financial privacy is at stake here, and
we should not try to compete with China by becoming more like China.
The argument for a CBDC that Beijing is doing this, so we should do it,
too, why on Earth would we want to imitate, emulate, or copy Beijing's
surveillance-state authoritarianism?
To my friend on the other side of the aisle who just made the
argument that we are behind and the European Central Bank is doing
this, when have we in this country, the United States of America,
wanted to emulate Europe?
This is America. We do it the American way, not the European way, not
the Chinese way, and not the Communist, socialist way. We do it the
free enterprise way. We do it the limited government way. We do it the
way to honor Americans' privacy through the GENIUS Act and through
private stablecoins. That is the way we should do it. That is the way
we should lead in innovation.
Yes, personal privacy is at stake. Surveillance of Americans'
individual financial transactions through a CBDC does raise serious
privacy concerns and concerns about government control and
politicization of loans, online payments, credit scores, tax
compliance, Federal contracts, monetary policy, and the like.

In addition to these privacy concerns, a central bank digital
currency would centralize Americans' finances, eroding the banking
deposit base. That would decrease competition and choice.
This is a big concern that I have, that a CBDC would substantially
decrease the availability of credit and increase the cost of financial
services and products for consumers, destroying our conventional,
traditional banking system.
Our banking system, in contrast to Europe and China, is the envy of
the world due to its free market principles, dynamism, and diversity.
Banks of all different sizes serve customers, communities, and
businesses with all different needs. Capitalism promotes market
demands, which incentivize banks to offer products that fit the needs
of their consumers at the best price possible.
We don't want to eliminate that. We don't want to erode the deposit
base with a CBDC.
I ask, Mr. Speaker, would we truly want to lose the benefits of a
diverse banking system that makes the U.S. the global leader in the
financial system? Do we want to take actions to be more like China or
Europe and decrease Americans' right to privacy?
I went to the European Central Bank. I heard them lecture us about a
CBDC, and it made me more convinced than ever that we don't want to be
like Europe.
The answer is that we do not want to be like Europe and that we do
not want to be like the Communists in Beijing. We must disintermediate
our banking system and allow for the creation of a CBDC. We must not
threaten Americans' access to privacy.
That is why I support this legislation, and I urge all of my
colleagues to do so, as well.
If my Republican colleagues really don't like a CBDC, then vote for
the GENIUS Act, which takes away all the arguments for it.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Connecticut (Mr. Himes), who is also the ranking member of the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for
this opportunity to speak because this is one of the most ignorant
things I have seen this House produce in a very long time.
It stuns me, frankly, that my good friends, Congressmen Hill, Steil,
and Barr, are associating themselves with this bill.
Let's be super clear about this. Nobody knows whether a CBDC is a
good idea. A couple of years ago, I wrote a white paper on CBDC, and I
concluded that it is not clear. The arguments for and against are being
mooted today.
Yes, it could be abused by an overwhelming executive if we had a
President, for example, who showed disdain for the Constitution, who
was comfortable acting illegally, and who wasn't comfortable with
judicial rulings. It is hard for us to imagine that President, but this
could be abused.
It could be used for monetary policy, a bad idea. It could be used
for taxation, a bad idea. It could also, by the way, be a trusted
electronic currency

[[Page H3431]]

for an unbanked population. It could be a way of supporting the primacy
of the American dollar. I don't know.
The truth is that nobody on that side of the aisle or this side of
the aisle knows either, but we are going to forbid any inquiry around
this to figure out whether it is a good idea or a bad idea. We are
going to say we can't even research it.
This is a stunning definition of ignorance. Imagine if 100 years ago
we had said that electricity is scary. It can kill you and is produced
by burning coal, which is dangerous, so we are not going to research
electricity or atomic power or the automobile. Tens of thousands of
Americans die every year because of the automobile.
We don't know, and the majority says let's not learn because they
have some ideological fixation that, frankly, I don't understand.

{time} 1210

Two hundred years ago, the private sector, which my friends on the
other side of the aisle hold up, had issued currency. It was called
scrip. Companies and banks issued their own currency, and this country
learned that this was a terrible idea and that, in fact, the central
bank should issue currency, which is one of the reasons we are who we
are today. You might give the CBDC at least some benefit of the doubt
instead of being ignorant about whether we want to know the truth.
We need to stop this. We held this institution up for 2 days over a
bizarre MAGA obsession which is rooted in insanity and ignorance. Don't
even find out the answer. The ranking member said that this is like a
boy who is hiding from the truth. I have another metaphor. This is like
a young 5-year-old who is angry and covers his eyes and ears and
believes he is invisible.
Just imagine my good friend Andy Barr saying we are not like China,
we are not like--what if there is a sterling or--
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Knott). The time of the gentleman has
expired.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from Connecticut.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, for all the rah-rah patriotism, think about
this. Again, I will acknowledge that we don't know if this is a good
idea or a bad idea, and we ought to find out.
Let's imagine that the European Union, which Mr. Barr wants to
dissociate himself with, puts out a CBDC that picks up real usage. Now
all of a sudden, we have a threat to the dollar because we are still
handing around pieces of paper because the Republican majority said we
shouldn't even research something that may or may not be a good part of
a modern, 21st century economy.
Don't go with ignorance. You are too smart for that. Don't risk
putting us behind on something that could be really important to the
future of the American dollar. Vote ``no'' on this ignorant bill.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Davidson), who is the chair of our Subcommittee on
National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial
Institutions.
Mr. DAVIDSON. Mr. Speaker, central bank digital currency poses an
existential threat to western civilization. It is essentially, at its
heart, communist banking.
Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, and Democrats in the Senate didn't
walk around Omarova to be confirmed as a bank regulator because they
were opposed to communist banking. They want it. That is what central
bank digital currency is.
Our colleagues on the other side of this debate act like we need to
study communism a little harder to figure out whether it works or not.
We have got plenty of evidence it doesn't work. Central bank digital
currency inserts government between you and your money.
Another word for central bank digital currency is programmable money.
Who does the programming? The central bank. They can condition your
access to your own money with whatever parameters they put in place.
They can filter transactions. They can even set them to expire.
Monetary policy wonks in the communist banking world think this is a
feature, not a flaw. They think if they can set your access to your
money to expire, then it would be a better future.
Every dystopian fiction that I have found--``Brave New World,''
``1984''--says this is the future of money, that it is corrupted into a
tool for surveillance, coercion, and control.
Frankly, our own current banking system has crept too close to that.
We need to turn the other direction. The market is telling us that.
That is why cryptocurrency was invented, frankly. That is why it is so
popular and is a growing asset class. We need to say no to this, and we
need to protect what the market is telling us consumers want.
We tested this under the Biden administration. They decided that they
were going to spy on your bank accounts if you had $600 in your bank.
The public said: Whoa, what? Why are you spying on my bank account?
In a communist world, they say: Well, if you have nothing to hide,
then why should you have anything to fear.
But that is not our way of life in this country. The Fourth Amendment
doesn't say that. It says if you have probable cause, and only then,
then you get a warrant. Here, you build the surveillance into the
program.
I get it. If all men were angels, this would never be abused, but we
know they are not. We have seen massive abuse in our own country. In
Canada we saw Trudeau, a fellow traveler on the communist long march,
want to ban people's access to their own bank accounts because they
were protesting his COVID policies at trucker rallies.
This is very easy to do when you have programmable money. We need to
say no to this. It is an existential threat to our way of life, and
ideally, we would do it at every opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all our colleagues to vote for Mr. Emmer's bill
and stop this threat to our way of life.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Sherman), who is also the ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Capital Markets.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I worked hard in school, but the grade I am
proudest of is to be the first Member of this House to get an ``F''
from the crypto industry.
Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution says that it is the
Federal Government and Congress who should coin money and determine the
value thereof. However, our Republican friends tell us that that means
that the Federal Government should be stuck with 1776 technology while
the competitors of the dollar race forward in the 21st century.
The largest super-PAC expenditures in history occurred last year. The
crypto industry spent more on independent expenditures--look at this.
If you combine all of the expenditures from Big Oil plus Big Pharma,
put them together, and multiply by five, you still don't have what the
crypto industry did last year.
It is not surprising that we hear words like ``freedom,''
``innovation,'' ``choice,'' and ``competitiveness'' used to justify
making money for the crypto bros, and now we have a bill designed to
prevent freedom, innovation, choice, and competitiveness when it poses
a risk to their profits.
This bill not only prevents us from ever having a digital dollar; it
prevents us from even studying a digital dollar.
Now, I think Americans will always have banks, credit cards, debit
cards, Zelle, Venmo, cash, money market funds, and pursuant to the bill
that it looks like we are going to pass today, they will have
stablecoin, a privacy device specifically designed for criminals and
tax evaders. Then they will have mixers to make it impossible for even
the most advanced law enforcement, even with a warrant, to find out
what is happening.
They have all of those choices.
What is the one choice you are not allowed to have?
You are not allowed to have the currency provided for in the U.S.
Constitution. You are not allowed to have a digital dollar or even a
study of a digital dollar. If you don't want to carry a lot of paper
around, you can't have the full faith and credit of the United States.
Now, we have talked about the role of the U.S. dollar, the critical
role that it plays in international transactions, and why that is a
major economic benefit to the United States.
The crypto bros occasionally tell you out loud what they are
thinking. That

[[Page H3432]]

is they want to minimize and destroy the role of the U.S. dollar
internationally. What do they do to hobble the dollar? They say the
Chinese Communist Party can have a digital yuan, the bitcoin bros can
have a digital currency, but America is limited to 1776 technology.
Our banking system is the envy of the world because we innovate. This
bill says no innovation.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from California.

{time} 1220

Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, you might think it is hypocritical that
they tell us that we have to have crypto because, otherwise, China will
do it. Then they say: We can't have a digital dollar because China is
doing it.
That is not inconsistent. They are consistent. Their consistent rule
is that you must do what makes profit for the crypto bros, including
Donald Trump, and you must prevent them from facing any competition,
even the competition called for by the U.S. Constitution.
Today's bills in whole, all three of them, will create a payment
system designed for tax evaders and criminals. It will provide for
taxpayer bailouts, and it will allow the crypto industry to say that we
have all this power in Congress. Crypto bailouts are not only allowed,
but they are guaranteed.
It will provide an avenue for foreign interests to provide hidden
money--``cryptocurrency'' literally means hidden money--into Trump's
personal pocket, and it is designed to allow taxpayer money to be used
to buy bitcoin and Trump coin.
Finally, it takes our freedom. It says that you can have freedom to
have a digital currency only if you do it in a way that it enriches the
crypto bros. There would be no choice for Americans who want a digital
dollar.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to introduce
the author of this important legislation, and I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to
the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), the majority whip of the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Mr. EMMER. Mr. Speaker, after much debate, we can now codify
President Trump's effort to prevent the development of a central bank
digital currency, or CBDC, and ensure that the United States' digital
currency policy remains in the hands of the American people and not the
administrative state.
I am proud to have my legislation, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State
Act, being considered on the House floor for a vote today.
This bill is straightforward. It prevents unelected Washington
bureaucrats from creating a financial surveillance tool that, if not
done correctly, will fundamentally alter the lives of every American.
Unlike decentralized digital assets, a CBDC is a digital form of
sovereign currency that is designed, issued, and monitored by the
Federal Government. It is government-controlled, programmable money
that, if designed without the privacy protections of cash, could give
the Federal Government the ability to surveil and restrict Americans'
transactions and monitor every aspect of our daily lives.
In other words, every dollar you spend, where you spend it, and who
you spend it with would all be visible to and tracked by the watchful
eyes of Washington. There would be no cash, no anonymity, and no space
for private financial decisionmaking.
This isn't an inconceivable concept. We have already seen examples of
governments developing these types of tools and using them to weaponize
their financial systems against their citizens. The Chinese Communist
Party employs a CBDC that is being used to monitor and restrict its
citizens' spending. The data is being used to develop a social credit
system that rewards or punishes individuals based on their spending
behavior.
In Canada, the former Trudeau administration demonstrated the power
of Federal financial surveillance and control when it froze the bank
accounts of hundreds of truckers protesting the COVID vaccine mandate
in 2022.
Surely, this totalitarian surveillance tool would never take root in
the United States. However, that assumption would be wrong. This is not
a theoretical risk. It is a very real and very dangerous precedent.
Under the Biden administration, financial surveillance was a core
tenet of President Biden's policy agenda. In 2022, President Biden
issued an executive order placing urgency on CBDC research and
development.
Moreover, the agency reports created under that executive order made
it clear that the previous administration was eager to create a CBDC
and was willing to trade Americans' right to financial privacy for a
CCP-style surveillance tool.
Our bill, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, prevents future
administrations from weaponizing this technology against the American
people while ensuring that any development of digital money reflects
our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market
competitiveness.
If not designed to be open, permissionless, and private--``private''
with a capital p--resembling cash, a government-issued CBDC is nothing
more than an Orwellian surveillance tool that will be used to erode the
American way of life.
The Federal Government has no business monitoring Americans' daily
financial lives. We don't need or want a state-run digital dollar with
Chinese Communist Party characteristics. We need to protect the core
principles that make this country exceptional: liberty,
limited government, and the right to privacy.

We are on the verge of the next game-changing technological
evolution, and we must embrace this push for a more developed digital
economy. In doing so, we cannot jeopardize who we are as Americans, and
this bill is designed to ensure just that.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hill and Chairman Steil for their
tireless work and advocacy on this issue, in addition to the 135
Members of Congress who have joined as cosponsors of our legislation. I
urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), chairman of our Subcommittee on
Oversight and Investigations.
Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of our full committee,
Chairman Hill, for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1919, the Anti-CBDC
Surveillance State Act, led by Whip Emmer.
This bill is about defending our Constitution and protecting the
privacy of the American people. The Constitution is unambiguous in
Article I, Section 8, which grants only Congress exclusive authority to
coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin.
This is a clear provision of the United States Constitution. It is a
foundational element of our constitutional Republic designed to keep
such important authority over our Nation's currency issuance within the
hands of the people's Representatives.
A central bank digital currency would centralize unprecedented power
in the Federal Government and could open the door to real-time
surveillance of every financial transaction in America.
Existing banking practices safeguard Americans' privacy. A CBDC could
undo that protection overnight, creating a tool ripe for abuse. Even
though the Constitution is clear, this bill restrains the Fed from even
considering a central bank digital currency, reinforces Congress'
constitutional authority over currency, and ensures that any digital
dollar reflects our founding principles.
Mr. Speaker, I commend Whip Emmer for his leadership, and I urge
support for this very important legislation.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, Democrats are not the only ones who want to study CBDC.
In 2021, my dear friend, Chairman Hill, worked with Representative
Foster to introduce the Central Bank Digital Currency Study Act.
Chairman Hill also wrote a letter to the Fed asking for information.
After the Fed agreed to do a study, he issued a statement saying:

The Fed is finally taking actionable steps to do what we
have been asking them to do

[[Page H3433]]

for 2 years, and we are pleased to see Chairman Powell
announce steps toward making a digital dollar a reality.

I ask the gentleman: What changed?
We need more research. We need to learn more, so we need to vote
``no'' on this bill. It goes in the opposite direction from what the
gentleman wants and has been asking for.
Finally, we have a chance to vote, and certainly I am asking for a
``no'' vote, and I hope that the gentleman would, too.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).
Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1919, the Anti-CBDC
Surveillance State Act.
Among the many rights that we enjoy as Americans, privacy is among
the most fundamental. Establishing a central bank digital currency
would not only usurp consumers' privacy and individual freedoms, but it
would also hinder free market innovation.
Digital assets are here to stay. I agree strongly with President
Trump that the United States should be a leader in this space. However,
the last administration held a very different view. They wasted no time
exploring ways to set up a surveillance state digital currency managed
and micromanaged by the Federal Government.
President Trump understands the dangers of more government and more
surveillance. It is why he issued an executive order prohibiting a
CBDC. The vote before the House would make that ban permanent, and I
urge my colleagues to support this bill.

{time} 1230

Mr. Speaker, today the House will vote on the GENIUS Act, short for
the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins
Act. The bill, which was introduced in the Senate by my friend and
fellow Tennessean, Senator Bill Hagerty, provides a clear regulatory
framework for the issuance of payment stablecoins.
Today, this payment product is offered with little, if any, Federal
oversight. By establishing this regulatory clarity, this bill will
drive significant demand for stablecoins. This bill will ensure issuers
back stablecoins with high-quality liquid assets, a major win for the
American consumer.
The GENIUS Act includes consumer protections and enables innovators
to do what they do best. It also happens to strengthen the U.S.
dollar's reserve currency status. This will result in the ability to
make near-instant payments anywhere in the world, which is good for
consumers, companies, and Americans.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, yet, again, my colleague confuses retail and
wholesale CBDC. Banning wholesale CBDC is nonsensical. It has nothing
to do with surveillance and everything to do with modernizing how
American financial institutions and our central bank engage in
intrabank cross-border transactions.
This suggestion of Big Brother and monitoring is just a fabrication,
a bogeyman. We must support financial innovation and not hide from the
future.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman), a returning member of the House Financial
Services Committee.
Mr. STUTZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank our Financial Services chairman
for his leadership on a really important issue that is going to affect
many generations ahead of us.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the anti-CBDC
Surveillance State Act.
Our Founding Fathers were clear that Congress, not the executive
branch, has the power to coin money and regulate its value.
Yet, in 2022, the Biden administration issued an executive order that
placed the highest urgency on the research and development of a central
bank digital currency, a so-called digital dollar.
Under the wrong circumstances, this technology could allow the
Federal Government unfettered access into the wallets of every
American, putting privacy and freedom at risk.
Unfortunately, Americans know all too well how far some
administrations are willing to go to intrude into our lives. We all saw
how the Biden administration ruthlessly pressured social media
platforms to silence the voices of Americans who criticized their
disastrous COVID-19 policies.
We saw this same ideology taken to the extreme when Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau froze the bank accounts of Canadians who dared
to protest his government during the pandemic.
Now, imagine if the Federal Government could see where we spend our
hard-earned paychecks, track our charitable donations, or even cut off
access to our own money if it disapproves of our beliefs.
Any digital dollar must reflect our values of privacy and our First
Amendment rights. This bill ensures our digital assets policy is in the
hands of the American people, not the administrative state. It protects
our values of privacy, individual freedom, and free market innovation
by prohibiting a CBDC surveillance tool that could be wielded against
the American way of life.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important legislation, and I
thank Whip Emmer and Chairman Hill for their outstanding leadership on
this important issue.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman
from California (Mr. Kiley), who represents the prettiest district
outside Arkansas.
Mr. KILEY of California. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration
started us down the road of adopting a Central Bank Digital Currency
issued by the Federal Reserve without the consent of the American
people or their Representatives here in Congress.
Today, we are saying no. We are not the Chinese Communist Party. We
are not going to turn the central bank of the United States into a
giant panopticon, capable of tracking and surveilling every American
citizen, while keeping a watchful eye on each and every one of your
financial transactions, crediting or discrediting, or punishing you
based on your personal behavior, and restricting that behavior with the
tap of a button. Nothing could be more inimical to the liberty and
privacy on which American greatness depends.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a sponsor of this critical legislation
and look forward to its passage on the House floor today.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman
from North Carolina (Mr. McDowell), our new Member.
Mr. McDOWELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, America is not a surveillance state, and under
Republican leadership, it never will be. Today, this Congress has the
opportunity to lay the foundation for a digital future that protects
freedom and financial privacy.
At the center of that effort is the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.
This bill ensures that no central bank digital currency will be created
under the Federal Reserve. We have seen what that looks like in
Communist China where the CCP uses it to track, monitor, and control
their people, but not here, Mr. Speaker. Not in the land of the free
because together with the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act, we will
protect Americans' financial liberty and make the United States the
crypto capital of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Earlier my colleagues praised our wonderful private sector, and we
know now my friends do not like studies, but I would encourage them to
read the study from our biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase, explaining how
CBDC's can save $120 billion in cross-border payments. Please read the
study. Even if you don't like studies, read it anyway.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that we fall further and further
behind the global economic stage with congressional Republicans'
policies. We are already seeing inflation rise on consumer

[[Page H3434]]

goods as Trump's tariffs take place. Now, Republicans want to raise the
cost of auto loans, credit card fees, and mortgages for Americans by
forcing the dollar to become a relic of the past. That is why I will
vote ``no.''
Further, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Himes made a great argument and a great
point about ignorance. He believes that this is an ignorant bill, and
it just does not speak well for the Members of Congress not wanting to
do research and study to determine what is in the best interest of the
dollar and our country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my
time.
Mr. Speaker, first, I will thank the members of the House Financial
Services Committee and the members of the House Agriculture Committee
for all the work that they have put in on both sides of the aisle. It
was significant hours for multiple years, basically the last three
Congresses, in thinking through what is the future of digital assets,
how are they best regulated, what is the role of United States
Government in oversight, what is the future of money in terms of the
use of a blockchain.
Members in these committees have worked extensively. Likewise over in
the Energy and Commerce Committee, the idea of blockchain technology at
large outside financial institutions has garnered a tremendous amount
of bipartisan work.

{time} 1240

This House wants to make sure that we prepare this country for a
prosperous, free, open Web3 technology as we go into seeing the
benefits of writing applications on a blockchain. We will see
competition in blockchains, just as we saw competition in operating
systems in computing. I think that breeds a lot of excitement.
No one can actually do that if we don't have clear rules of the road.
We have spent this morning debating those rules of the road.
The CLARITY Act that we debated on this House floor provides that
market framework for the use of digital assets, custodying digital
assets, investing in digital assets, or dealing or raising capital
around them. It clearly defines what should be treated as a commodity
versus what should be treated as a security.
We talked about that important payment device on a blockchain for use
in that marketplace that is outlined in the CLARITY Act. That is a
dollar-backed stablecoin.
We want the U.S. to dominate in financial technology and payments,
just as we do for the vast majority of payments around the world in
dollars. That is delivered by the bipartisan work in the Senate on the
GENIUS Act.
I want to start by thanking those Members. I also recognize the
incredibly hardworking staff members on the House Committee on
Agriculture and the House Committee on Financial Services who have
worked together unbelievably, capably, cooperatively, and effectively
over these last two Congresses, as they did at the height of the
cleanup from the financial crisis in 2008 when House Financial Services
and the Agriculture Committee came together to write rules about the
swap market.
I particularly thank Nick, Jack Jackson, Lindsey, and Paul on the
staff at the House Agriculture Committee. They did great. I thank Nick,
Allison, and our team at House Financial Services for their staff
leadership.
Mr. Speaker, this bill we are debating today is essential. The
ranking member seems to think that I am interested in the subject of a
central bank digital currency, and I am. I have spent the better part
of the last 5 years studying central bank digital currencies outside
the United States and talking to officials inside the United States
about whether that is a good idea or a bad idea.
Over those years, it is not out of ignorance that I have come to the
conclusion that it is a bad idea. One of the contributing factors to my
determining that I don't believe it is an idea whose time has come, to
supplement private-sector innovation in this Nation, is actually
Congressman Jim Himes' white paper that he shared with me years ago. I
thought it was well-written, and it was another indication that this
was not the direction to go in.
Since that time, I have visited with other central banks around the
world, in Europe and other places, that make me even more certain that
we should rely on private-sector innovation that, in turn, can create
the tokenized money, which we have talked about all morning, but
doesn't do it in a way that can surveil your work, take over your life,
have outcomes that you heard from Congressman Davidson and Congressman
Emmer, about the examples of debanking that we witnessed in Canada or
the policy debanking we witnessed in the Obama administration and, to a
degree, the Biden administration.
Americans have made it clear: We don't want the Federal Government
controlling how we spend, save, or send our money in our personal
lives. We have witnessed firsthand the dangers when government wields
that power unchecked, and you heard examples of that this morning.
Americans want and deserve control over their own money, and we have
tried to institutionalize that in all the work we have done in both of
these committees in this digital assets innovation and reform space.
We believe in self-custody. I have self-custody in the analog world
of cash and investments. Why can't I have that custody, that self-
control, in my digital financial space? I don't understand why one
can't recognize the authorities that we have on our person--
constitutionally guaranteed, guaranteed by law--in an analog context?
Why can't we demand the same?
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill,
and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 580, the previous question is ordered on
the bill, as amended.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

____________________