Tom Emmer

House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Newsmax on Wednesday that a U.S. central bank digital currency, a government-issued digital dollar that would run on a Federal Reserve-controlled ledger, would amount to "the ultimate form of surveillance," pointing to China's digital yuan as a working model of state financial control and pressing the Senate to take up his House-passed ban.

Emmer, appearing on "Wake Up America," said his Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act dates back roughly four to six years and that Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, has been among its leading champions in the House. Emmer first introduced the lead Republican bill to ban a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in January 2022, according to his office.

"We don't have to guess how they would use it. All you got to do is look at the digital yuan," Emmer said. "The Chinese are already using it. They surveil their citizens. They're building scores based on your habits. What you get to buy at the grocery store, how you travel, this is the ultimate form of surveillance."

A CBDC is a digital form of government-issued money created and backed by a country’s central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the United States.

Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, a CBDC is centrally controlled and is legal tender, similar to physical cash but in digital form.

Outside reporting has documented Beijing's integration of digital-yuan infrastructure with its broader surveillance and social-credit systems.

Emmer cast a Fed-issued digital dollar as a threat to the U.S. financial structure, not just to privacy.

"If you believe in the greatest capital markets in the world right here in the United States of America, a central bank digital currency will give the leftists in this country exactly what they want," he said.

"Everybody will have a bank account through the Federal Reserve, and it will destroy the two-tier banking system."

Community-bank groups have echoed concerns about disintermediation and have offered formal support for the bill.

"So it's the ultimate surveillance tool that should never have a place in this country," Emmer said.

The House passed Emmer's bill, H.R. 1919, by a 219-210 vote on July 17, 2025.

The measure bars the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals or through intermediaries, blocks the Fed from using a CBDC for monetary policy, and requires explicit congressional authorization for any government-created digital dollar.

It codifies a January 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump prohibiting federal agencies from establishing or promoting a CBDC.

The legislation was attached to the Foreign Intelligence Accountability Act (S. 1318) and now awaits Senate action. Emmer's office says 135 House Republicans cosponsored the standalone bill.

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