The Federal Reserve should not issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to some American politicians, because they say that Americans don’t need CBDC. The chairman of Congress’ Digital Assets Subcommittee, Congressman French Hill, belonging to the Republican Party from Arizona, posted the following on the social media website X on Wednesday, “Americans have a right to financial privacy. We do not need a CBDC that can track your purchases like China does with their digital yuan.”
According to the latest Cato Institute 2023 CBDC National Survey Report, only 16% of Americans are in favour of the federal government of the United States using a Central Bank Digital Currency, or “CBDC.” In the YouGov national survey of 2,000 Americans, 34% of respondents opposed the adoption of a CBDC, compared to 49% who were undecided. However, the survey reveals that Americans are less enthused about a CBDC’s advantages than about its risks.
Majority of the US Congress express dissent
Congressman Hill has been a vociferous critic of the probability of the Federal Reserve issuing a CBDC. Reasoning as to why Americans don’t need CBDC, Hill stated last year in October, “I understand why Americans are concerned about CBDCs and the potential for a Big-Brother-like surveillance state. I share these concerns. It is a priority of mine to make sure the federal government cannot and does not proceed with issuing a CBDC without Congressional approval”. He also emphasized that the authority to decide matters related to the nation’s currency and money supply system in question does not belong to unelected bureaucrats. Instead, it must rest with the Congress for creation of any central bank digital currency – all in the spirit of non-partisanship.
A majority of American commoners would be in favour of CBDC if it made it less likely for fraud and money laundering (42%) or if it allowed the government to make sure assistance payments were used for what they were intended for (40%) – surveys suggest. HR 3506, the 21st Century Dollar Act, was presented by the lawmaker in 2021 to ensure that the “U.S. government has a strategy to maintain the dollar as the primary global reserve currency, with or without a CBDC,” according to the information he had previously provided on social media application X, formerly Twitter.
Similar warnings from multiple other legislators have been raised, underlining the risks which the Federal Reserve would be inviting by issuing a central bank digital currency. Congressman Patrick McHenry, a Republican politician from the State of North Carolina, had tweeted in May last year, “The Federal Reserve can’t move forward with a CBDC without authorizing legislation from Congress. Before taking action, Congress must work to understand the risks a CBDC could pose to privacy, private sector innovation, and American consumers.”
What everything boils down to?
While both the Republicans and the Democrats are wary of CBDCs – the opposition, however, clearly remains greater among the Republicans. Republican Congressman Warren Davidson from the Republic Party of the State of Ohio, on August 25, drew an analogy between the CBDC and the polity, comparing a central bank digital currency to autocracy. He said that the “CBDC is to sound money what dictatorship is to freedom.” The consensus amongst all the lawmakers of the United States seems to be that Americans don’t need CBDC.
“The existence of x precludes y. Coincidentally, if you wanted to establish or enforce a dictatorship, CBDC would be the one ring to rule them all”, Rep. Davidson explained, further commenting on the subject, “The Federal Reserve is building the financial equivalent of the Death Star. Central bank digital currency (CBDC) corrupts money into a tool for coercion & control. Congress must swiftly ban then criminalize any effort to design, build, develop, test or establish a CBDC.”
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