Rep. Tom Emmer reintroduces anti-CBDC bill to Congress

The bill would limit the Fed from issuing a CBDC which Tom Emmer called a surveillance tool that would “undermine the American way of life.”

Legislation aimed at preventing “unelected bureaucrats in Washington” from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been reintroduced by Representative Tom Emmer.

On Sep. 12, Emmer and 49 original co-sponsors revived the “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act” in the United States House of Representatives in a bid, they claim, to protect Americans’ right to financial privacy.

“The administration has made it clear: President Biden is willing to compromise the American people’s right to financial privacy for a surveillance-style CBDC,” Emmer, a Republican, said in a statement, adding:

“That’s why I’m reintroducing my landmark legislation to put a check on unelected bureaucrats and ensure the United States’ digital currency policy upholds our values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free-market competitiveness,”

Emmer first proposed the bill to address CBDCs in January 2022. It was formally introduced to Congress in February 2023 with the aim of limiting the Federal Reserve from minting a programmable digital dollar which Emmer claims is a “surveillance tool that would be used to undermine the American way of life.”

Today, with 49 of my Republican colleagues, I reintroduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Acthttps://t.co/mbke95IHBn

— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) September 12, 2023

The bill specifically prohibits the Fed from issuing a CBDC to individuals which Emmer says would stop it mobilizing into a retail bank able to collect personal financial data.

The bill also prohibits the central bank from using any CBDC to implement monetary policy.

Related: Congressman Tom Emmer says SEC chair Gary Gensler is a ‘bad faith regulator’

In March, Tom Emmer warned against the weaponization of money as the federal government seeks to maintain and expand financial control.

U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. echoed the sentiment in May stating, “That is why I oppose CBDCs, which will vastly magnify the government’s power to suffocate dissent by cutting off access to funds with a keystroke,”

Other supporters of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act include Senators French Hill, Warren Davidson, and Mike Flood.

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