Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House have pushed to turn a temporary restriction on a central bank digital currency into a permanent ban as Congress prepares to vote on a major housing bill later this week.
Summary
- House Republicans have pushed to make the proposed U.S. CBDC ban permanent in the revised 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
- Representative Warren Davidson said the Senate’s 2030 expiration date could create a future pathway for a Federal Reserve-issued digital dollar.
- House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has continued urging the Senate to pass his Anti CBDC Surveillance State Act after it cleared the House earlier this year.
According to Congressman Mike Flood, House lawmakers revised the Senate’s version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to remove what he described as a “backdoor green light for a CBDC” by making the prohibition indefinite rather than allowing it to expire in 2030.
The Senate Banking Committee first introduced the housing package in March as a sweeping reform bill focused on housing supply, affordability programs, mortgage access, and manufactured housing rules. Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren led the legislation, which later advanced through the Senate with an 84 to 6 bipartisan procedural vote.
Buried within the housing proposal was a provision preventing the Federal Reserve or regional Federal Reserve banks from issuing a U.S. central bank digital currency without congressional approval. Under the Senate version, the restriction would have remained in place only until Dec. 31, 2030.
House Republicans are now trying to remove that sunset clause altogether before the legislation heads back to the Senate for further consideration.
Among those backing the revised language, Representative Warren Davidson argued that the existing deadline effectively creates a future launch window for a government-issued digital dollar.
“The US House of Representatives could deliver a unifying win this week with bipartisan housing affordability legislation. Instead, they currently plan to deliver a go-live date for Central Bank Digital Currency, using housing as the Trojan Horse,” Davidson said.
In a separate statement, Davidson added that the “2030 sunset works a pre-launch development period,” while calling for a full and lasting prohibition on CBDCs in the United States.
Republicans revive anti-CBDC push in Congress
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has continued lobbying senators to pass his Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act after the measure cleared the House in July.
The proposal would block the Federal Reserve from creating or issuing a central bank digital currency, with supporters framing the issue as one tied to privacy and financial freedom.
“The Chinese Communist Party uses a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to surveil and control its people,” Emmer said while urging Senate approval of the bill. He added that his legislation “BANS our government from ever creating this Orwellian tool.”
Previous efforts to stop a digital dollar through standalone legislation have struggled to gain traction. Senator Mike Lee earlier introduced the “No CBDC Act,” which sought to prohibit both the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department from issuing a CBDC, though the proposal stalled in Congress.
Outside government, criticism of CBDCs has frequently centered on surveillance and state control concerns. At the same time, the Human Rights Foundation has argued that digital currencies issued by central banks could improve financial access for underserved populations while also creating risks tied to privacy and government abuse.
Data tracked by the Atlantic Council currently shows that only Nigeria, Jamaica, and the Bahamas have fully launched CBDCs, while dozens of other countries remain in pilot programs or research stages.
