My plan to protect Americans’ financial privacy in a digital economy

Privacy. Individual sovereignty. Free market competitiveness. For centuries, these core American values have given us the confidence to innovate freely and create the greatest economy in the world. The United States is an economic leader because we are uncompromising in these values, subsequently instilling confidence in our markets and allowing technologies that hold these values at their core to flourish.

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the antithesis of these core American values. Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, a CBDC is government-controlled programmable money that, if not carefully designed to emulate cash, could give the federal government the ability to surveil and restrict Americans’ transactions. This is not just alarming, it’s downright un-American — and we’ve already seen examples of governments weaponizing their financial system against their citizens.

China used its COVID tracking system to lock its citizens down and prevent them from accessing funds in their bank accounts to stop a bank run. Closer to home, in 2022, the Canadian government weaponized its banking system to freeze its own citizens’ bank accounts in an attempt to disrupt the trucker protests.

Unfortunately, this appetite for financial surveillance seems to be gaining a stronghold right here at home. The Biden administration is itching to abandon our core American values to create a surveillance-style CBDC in pursuit of competing with China and other nations across the globe that are creating a central bank digital currency. Look no further than the presentation the Federal Reserve gave to my staff earlier this Congress listing “central bank digital currency” as one of their “key duties.”

The White House issued an executive order placing the “highest urgency” on central bank digital currency research and development. The Biden administration’s subsequent technical reports have made it clear that its intention is to compromise the values enshrined in cash — such as privacy, individual sovereignty and free market competitiveness — in exchange for a surveillance-style CBDC. Shifting to a cashless economy is inevitable, but we should never surrender decentralized money.

This is why I am taking legislative action. My bill, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, is the first and leading anti-CBDC legislative effort introduced in the United States. Specifically, this bill prevents unelected bureaucrats in Washington from issuing a digital financial surveillance tool that will undermine the American way of life, while protecting and elevating digital dollar innovation that is open, permissionless and private.

In total, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act ensures that the United States digital currency policy is in the hands of the American people — not the administrative state — so that it upholds our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty and free market competitiveness.

Since it was first introduced in 2022, the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act has garnered significant momentum, gaining more than 100 co-sponsors and broad support from industry stakeholders. More recently, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reintroduced the Senate companion of my bill — reflecting a unified, legislative approach among congressional Republicans to how we believe the United States should adapt to the digital economy.

But this issue is not exclusive to Congress. It made headlines on the presidential stage when President Trump said that he would “never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency” in order to “protect Americans from government tyranny.” He went on to say that “such a currency would give our federal government absolute control over your money.” He is exactly right.

If not open, permissionless and private – a CBDC is nothing more than a China-style surveillance tool that can be weaponized to oppress the American way of life. I’m not going to let that happen so long as I’m in Congress. Protecting Americans’ financial privacy begins with passing the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act in the House and Senate so we can send it to President Joe Biden’s desk and dare him not to sign this commonsense piece of legislation into law.

The United States’s leadership in the global economy will continue to be driven by our core values of privacy, individual sovereignty and free market competitiveness that instill confidence in our economy and system of governance. Abandoning these values in pursuit of a tool that is inherently un-American would threaten our national security, our safe and secure markets and our global leadership. We now have the tremendous opportunity to lead the future peer-to-peer digital economy by refusing to compromise on the values that have made us exceptional.

Americans can rest assured that Republicans in Congress will always stand as a bulwark against the expanding government surveillance state and will continue working to ensure the digital economy is designed by Americans with American values for generations to come.

Tom Emmer is the House majority whip.