Steve Lynch: “I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, I…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5403, the so-called CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. At the expense of U.S. global economic leadership, this misguided legislation would effectively prevent the Federal Reserve from researching or issuing a central bank digital currency, also known as a CBDC. Unfortunately, the facts surrounding the development of a central bank digital currency have been obscured by disinformation and infected by wrongheaded political ideology. Earlier this year, former President Trump vowed to protect Americans from tyranny and never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency. God help us. In Congress, Members of the House and Senate have also followed suit, introducing bill after bill to block the development and even the examination of a central bank digital currency based on unfounded claims that it violates user privacy and will be used as a surveillance tool by the Federal Government. The gentleman is correct when he says that China has developed a CBDC and conducts full-spectrum surveillance of their population. That is what they do. China is China. There is no Bill of Rights. There is no U.S.-like constitution that prohibits their government from doing that. They live in a communist regime. They don't have individual rights. That is not the case here in the United States.…”