Watch: Congressman Emmer's remarks during today's House Financial Services Committee Hearing

A transcript of Congressman Emmer’s remarks can be found below.

Emmer: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thanks for those words and for holding this important hearing today to study the promises of stablecoin technology to unlock economic efficiencies and the risks of central bank digital currencies to our privacy and freedom. I appreciate the Committee’s efforts to incorporate my feedback into the stablecoin bill over the past several Congresses, and I am grateful to this Committee for noticing my bill, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, in this hearing today.

The bill is simple: It halts the efforts of unelected bureaucrats from ever issuing a central bank digital currency that could upend the American way of life. This bill has the support of over 100 Members of Congress and groups ranging from the Independent Community Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association to Club for Growth, Heritage Action, and the Blockchain Association. CBDC technology is inherently un-American and I’m grateful to President Trump for understanding this and signing an executive order banning CBDCs as one of his first actions as President. My bill would codify the executive order into law and prevent a future administration from creating such an obvious tool for financial surveillance against its own citizens.

Chad, great to see you. Mr. Cascarilla, proponents of a United States central bank digital currency often cite global competition and the race to extend the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency as promises of a CBDC. Do you think there’s anything a potential United States CBDC could accomplish that a privately-issued stablecoin cannot?

Cascarilla: Thank you for the question, Congressman Emmer. I don’t think so. I think that historically innovation in the United States in both technology and the financial services landscape has come from the private sector, and I think that is what we should continue to embrace, and I think that is what the bill would enable.

Emmer: Well, speaking of stablecoins, Section 15 of the STABLE Act, the proposed legislation, requires federal regulators to create and implement reciprocal agreements between the United States and jurisdictions with substantially similar regulatory frameworks for dollar-backed payment stablecoins. Can you explain the impact this section will have in extending the status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency?

Cascarilla: Thank you. Yes, I think the important point is everyone wants a dollar. The U.S. is, of course, the home of the dollar. When we are exporting dollars, we are exporting American values. We want to make sure we have the same set of rules in the U.S. as we have around the world so that there isn’t some arbitrage that is possible to issue from another jurisdiction. And by having that same set of rules that everyone has to meet in order to access the U.S. market, it will actually create a race to the top, not a race to the bottom.

Emmer: Thank you, Mr. Cascarilla. CBDCs introduce significant privacy risks and are fundamentally the antithesis of American values. On the other hand, this stablecoin bill can bring traditional finance on-chain at a global scale while preserving privacy, individual sovereignty, and free market competitiveness. This underscores why we must prioritize pro-stablecoin legislation alongside anti-CBDC legislation.

I want to thank Chairman Hill again, especially for working with me on the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, both in this Congress now, and the last Congress, and I’d like to applaud the efforts of Representative Warren Davidson, Representative Andy Ogles, and former Representative, and a good friend of the Chair and myself, Representative Alex Mooney for their contributions to this text and for helping to make it a stronger legislative proposal.

I yield back the rest of my time.

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