A bill designed to stop the U.S. Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) moved a step closer to becoming law this week.

The House Financial Services Committee passed Rep. Tom Emmer’s (R-Minnesota) “Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act” by a vote of 27-22 on Wednesday.

The potential legislation, which now moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration, would prohibit Fed banks from issuing CBDCs.

Emmer, the third-ranking Republican in the House, says CBDCs represent “tools for financial surveillance.”

“In short, a CBDC is government-controlled programmable money that, if designed without the privacy protections of cash, could give the federal government unilateral authority to surveil Americans’ transactions and restrict politically unpopular activity.

We’ve already seen examples of governments weaponizing their financial systems against their citizens. In China, the Communist Party is using a CBDC to track the spending habits of its citizens. Closer to home, in Canada, the Trudeau administration froze the bank accounts of citizens involved in the 2022 trucker protests.”

Emmer first introduced a similar anti-CBDC bill back in 2022. Last month, the Republican lawmaker joined Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in launching the bipartisan “Congressional Crypto Caucus,” which they say aims to advance a digital asset policy agenda on Capitol Hill.

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