The Republican-proposed bill to ban the Fed from distributing CBDC to individuals has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats. The report comes from The Block.
Introducing a document in the House Financial Services Committee, one of its authors, Minnesota Republican Tom Emmer, said that programmable money would allow the government to track and restrict citizens’ transactions.
“This is not just troubling—it’s completely un-American,” he said.
However, that position did not find support among Democrats. In particular, California Representative Maxine Waters «anti-innovative».
“The Republican bill will stifle all specialized research and impede our progress, not to mention the prospect that the dollar could lose its status as the world’s reserve currency, and Americans would miss out on faster, cheaper, and simpler payments,” Waters said.
According to the Atlantic Council‘s CBDC tracker, 130 countries are currently developing their own CBDCs, accounting for 98% of global GDP. On this basis, the Republicans’ bill would “take the United States out of the game,” says Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch.
“With all due respect, this bill is an act of absurd stupidity,” he added.
Waters and Lynch proposed two amendments, but they did not secure a majority. The bill is now headed for full House consideration.
On the same day, another CBDC-related document was considered, which would require the Fed to obtain Congressional approval before issuing a digital currency. This bipartisan bill was prepared by Massachusetts Democrat Jake Auchincloss and Arkansas Republican French Hill.
Earlier in January 2022, the Fed released a report on the CBDC study. The regulator noted that the emergence of a dedicated digital form would help the U.S. dollar maintain its status as the world’s reserve currency.