Anti-Cbdc Surveillance State Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I worked hard in school, but the grade I am proudest of is to be the first Member of this House to get an ``F'' from the crypto industry.

Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution says that it is the Federal Government and Congress who should coin money and determine the value thereof. However, our Republican friends tell us that that means that the Federal Government should be stuck with 1776 technology while the competitors of the dollar race forward in the 21st century.

The largest super-PAC expenditures in history occurred last year. The crypto industry spent more on independent expenditures--look at this. If you combine all of the expenditures from Big Oil plus Big Pharma, put them together, and multiply by five, you still don't have what the crypto industry did last year.

It is not surprising that we hear words like ``freedom,'' ``innovation,'' ``choice,'' and ``competitiveness'' used to justify making money for the crypto bros, and now we have a bill designed to prevent freedom, innovation, choice, and competitiveness when it poses a risk to their profits.

This bill not only prevents us from ever having a digital dollar; it prevents us from even studying a digital dollar.

Now, I think Americans will always have banks, credit cards, debit cards, Zelle, Venmo, cash, money market funds, and pursuant to the bill that it looks like we are going to pass today, they will have stablecoin, a privacy device specifically designed for criminals and tax evaders. Then they will have mixers to make it impossible for even the most advanced law enforcement, even with a warrant, to find out what is happening.

They have all of those choices.

What is the one choice you are not allowed to have?

You are not allowed to have the currency provided for in the U.S. Constitution. You are not allowed to have a digital dollar or even a study of a digital dollar. If you don't want to carry a lot of paper around, you can't have the full faith and credit of the United States.

Now, we have talked about the role of the U.S. dollar, the critical role that it plays in international transactions, and why that is a major economic benefit to the United States.

The crypto bros occasionally tell you out loud what they are thinking. That is they want to minimize and destroy the role of the U.S. dollar internationally. What do they do to hobble the dollar? They say the Chinese Communist Party can have a digital yuan, the bitcoin bros can have a digital currency, but America is limited to 1776 technology.

Our banking system is the envy of the world because we innovate. This bill says no innovation.

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Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, you might think it is hypocritical that they tell us that we have to have crypto because, otherwise, China will do it. Then they say: We can't have a digital dollar because China is doing it.

That is not inconsistent. They are consistent. Their consistent rule is that you must do what makes profit for the crypto bros, including Donald Trump, and you must prevent them from facing any competition, even the competition called for by the U.S. Constitution.

Today's bills in whole, all three of them, will create a payment system designed for tax evaders and criminals. It will provide for taxpayer bailouts, and it will allow the crypto industry to say that we have all this power in Congress. Crypto bailouts are not only allowed, but they are guaranteed.

It will provide an avenue for foreign interests to provide hidden money--``cryptocurrency'' literally means hidden money--into Trump's personal pocket, and it is designed to allow taxpayer money to be used to buy bitcoin and Trump coin.

Finally, it takes our freedom. It says that you can have freedom to have a digital currency only if you do it in a way that it enriches the crypto bros. There would be no choice for Americans who want a digital dollar.

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