Anti-central bank digital currency provision added to US House's must-pass defense bill

An anti-central bank digital currency provision has been added to what is viewed as must-pass defense funding legislation.

That measure was added in the latest version of the House's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), first reported by Bloomberg Law on Thursday.

The new title in the bill is called the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and contains the same legislation that was previously introduced by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer in a standalone bill. Earlier in the summer, the full House voted 219-210 for Emmer's bill, which would block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency directly to individuals. 

A CBDC is a digital form of fiat money, directly issued and regulated by a country's central bank. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has also said the central bank won't issue a CBDC without congressional approval. Many Republicans have taken issue with a CBDC over concerns of broad monitoring of financial transactions. Emmer has said that CBDCs are “government-controlled programmable money that, if not designed to emulate cash, could give the federal government the ability to surveil Americans' transactions and choke out politically unpopular activity."

Democrats have criticized the bill in the past, saying it would "stifle" research. 

The NDAA is an annual law that authorizes funding for the Department of Defense. The Senate will vote on its version of the bill when it comes back to Washington on Sept. 2 and the House will likely take it up as well early next month, Punchbowl News reported on Thursday.