Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5403, which would not only prohibit the issuance of a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, but would go so far as to prohibit the Federal Reserve from holding bank reserves that are critical to operating payment systems and combating inflation. Let me start with the harmful implications of the bill's prohibitions on the issuance of a CBDC. A CBDC is a type of digital asset issued by a country's central bank, which in the United States is the Federal Reserve. Compared to other digital assets, CBDCs have a greater potential to maintain a stable value, garner public trust, and become a viable means of payment transactions. There are two main types of CBDCs, retail CBDCs that consumers could get from the Fed or a financial institution to pay for everyday things like a cup of coffee, and wholesale CBDCs that would not be used by individual consumers and instead only used for transactions among financial institutions and the Fed. CBDCs are no longer a remote, futuristic possibility. Madam Chair, 134 countries and currency unions around the world, representing 98 percent of global GDP, are currently exploring or implementing a CBDC. Some have referred to the development of a CBDC as the next space race, but the United States is way behind the curve.…”