The House of Representatives approved blocking the Federal Reserve from establishing its central bank digital currency in a 216-192 vote on Thursday.
Three Democrats backed the Republican-sponsored bill.
The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act now moves forward to the Senate for approval.
This move is a victory against the Biden administration, which has long planned to encroach on people’s lives through its digital currency.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota), the bill’s sponsor, emphasized the need for this bill to prevent government overreach and protect financial privacy.
If the legislation goes into law, the Federal Reserve will be banned from collecting personal financial data. It also prohibits the Fed from implementing a CBDC through a third-party institution.
The bill will also limit the central bank from using any CBDC to impose monetary guidelines.
He added that the bill ensures that the U.S. digital currency policy “upholds our values of privacy, individual sovereignty, and free-market competitiveness.”
“If not designed to be open, permissionless, and private — emulating cash — a government-issued CBDC is nothing more than a CCP-style surveillance tool that would be used to undermine the American way of life,” Emmer quipped.
