Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), as the name suggests, is a centralized digital currency under the control of the federal government. That seems reasonable enough—it even sounds like a variation of cryptocurrency—however, there is a sinister angle just below the surface.
Digital currency, unlike physical currency, is easily traceable. A U.S. central bank issued or managed, digital currency would quickly eliminate any notion of financial privacy and enable the federal government to spy on private citizens’ purchases. Taken to its logical conclusion, a CBDC could grant D.C. bureaucrats the ability to easily freeze bank accounts or even prohibit a particular class of items (such as guns or knives) from being purchased altogether. This is the Left’s dream scenario. And Senate Republicans claim they are powerless to stop them.
President Trump rightly recognized the threat posed by a CBDC, as did the House when they passed H.R. 1919, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. However, the Senate has so far refused to take up the bill, both as a standalone measure or as part of a large package—Leader Thune has even suggested that any bill with full CBDC restrictions to protect your financial privacy is “dead on arrival” in the Senate due to Democrat opposition.
The House recently attached a ban on CBDCs to an otherwise clean extension of the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In other words, the House passed a bill that many Senators had been clamoring for, with one small but critical addition. Yet, instead of even bothering to debate the merits of that addition, the Senate has so far refused to take it up.
Leader Thune and many Senate Republicans say they oppose to CBDC. Tell them to act like it.
Urge Senate Republicans to protect Americans’ constitutional rights to privacy and free association by banning CBDCs!