[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 87 (Thursday, May 22, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3132-S3133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2272. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 1582, to provide for the regulation of payment
stablecoins, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the
table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. __. PROHIBITIONS ON THE ISSUE OF CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL
CURRENCY.
(a) Prohibition on Federal Reserve Banks Relating to
Certain Products or Services for Individuals and Prohibition
on Directly Issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency.--Section
16 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 411 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``A Federal reserve bank may not--
``(1) offer products or services directly to an individual;
``(2) maintain an account on behalf of an individual; or
``(3) issue a central bank digital currency, as defined in
section 10(11)(D), or any digital asset that is substantially
similar under any other name or label.''.
(b) Prohibition on Federal Reserve Banks Indirectly Issuing
a Central Bank Digital Currency.--Section 16 of the Federal
Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. 411 et seq.), as amended by section 2,
is further amended by adding at the end the following:
``A Federal reserve bank may not offer a central bank
digital currency, as defined in
[[Page S3133]]
section 10(11)(D), or any digital asset that is substantially
similar under any other name or label, indirectly to an
individual through a financial institution or other
intermediary.''.
(c) Prohibition With Respect to Central Bank Digital
Currency.--Section 10 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C.
241 et seq.) is amended by inserting before paragraph (12)
the following:
``(11) Prohibition with respect to central bank digital
currency.--
``(A) In general.--The Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System may not test, study, develop, create, or
implement a central bank digital currency, or any digital
asset that is substantially similar under any other name or
label.
``(B) Monetary policy.--The Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee
may not use a central bank digital currency to implement
monetary policy, or any digital asset that is substantially
similar under any other name or label.
``(C) Exception.--Subparagraph (A) and the eighteenth and
nineteenth undesignated paragraphs of section 16 may not be
construed to prohibit any dollar-denominated currency that is
open, permissionless, and private, and fully preserves the
privacy protections of United States coins and physical
currency.
``(D) Central bank digital currency defined.--In this
paragraph, the term `central bank digital currency' means a
form of digital money or monetary value that is--
``(i) denominated in the national unit of account;
``(ii) a direct liability of the Federal Reserve System;
and
``(iii) widely available to the general public.''.
(d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve does not have
the authority to issue a central bank digital currency, or
any digital asset that is substantially similar under any
other name or label, and will not have such authority unless
Congress grants such authority pursuant to section 8 of
article I of the Constitution of the United States.
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