Trump banned a government surveillance currency on day one of his presidency.
Now Congress is trying to sneak it back through the back door.
A Heritage Foundation economist just caught them doing it inside a must-pass housing bill — and the trick they're using makes it look like a ban.
The Trojan Horse Inside the Housing Bill
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate 89–10 on March 12.
On the surface, it's a legitimate housing reform package — it cuts zoning red tape, limits institutional investors from gobbling up single-family homes, and adjusts FHA loan limits.
The bill runs 303 pages. Near the end sits Title X — a provision that purports to ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency through 2030.
That's where Heritage Foundation senior economist Peter St. Onge hit the brakes.
"Republicans in Congress are pushing a central bank digital currency, once again disguised as a ban, so they can surveil and control every dollar you spend," St. Onge said in a video that racked up nearly 200,000 views on X within hours of posting.
His warning isn't about the housing provisions.
It's about what the bill quietly allows.
A Ban That Isn't a Ban
There are two kinds of CBDCs, and Congress is only banning one of them.
A retail CBDC is a digital currency issued directly to citizens, replacing your bank account with an account at the Federal Reserve.
A wholesale CBDC does the same thing — but routes it through banks as middlemen.
The housing bill bans the retail version.
It leaves the wholesale version wide open.
St. Onge explained the sleight of hand: "Hidden deep in the bowels is a little gem that effectively green lights a central bank digital currency so long as Wall Street gets a piece of the action."
Wall Street has every reason to prefer the wholesale model — retail CBDCs would drain deposits straight to the Fed and cut the banks out entirely.
Wholesale keeps Wall Street in the loop, and flips the entire banking lobby from anti-CBDC to pro-CBDC overnight.
St. Onge called that flip the whole point.
"Once it's built, they can flick a switch using any excuse," he warned, pointing to the Patriot Act as the playbook: surveillance tools sold as national security measures, then expanded far beyond their original purpose.
The Surveillance Tool That Already Ended Careers
This isn't a theoretical threat — governments have already used financial systems as political weapons.
When Canadian truckers protested vaccine mandates in 2022, Prime Minister Trudeau froze their bank accounts using powers that exist in the United States under the Patriot Act.
Your bank already reports transactions over $10,000 to the federal government and files "suspicious activity reports" for anything that looks unusual.
A CBDC makes all of that universal.
St. Onge put it plainly: "The difference is a CBDC does this to all of your dollars, not just your bank account. There is no escape unless you're paying the mortgage and groceries in gold or perhaps Bitcoin."
China's version goes even further — the government can freeze any spending instantly, impose negative interest rates that evaporate money you haven't spent, and time stimulus spending to election cycles.
Seventy-two other countries are already building CBDCs or running pilots.
The Midterm Timing Is Not a Coincidence
Trump banned CBDCs on January 23, 2025 – day four of his presidency.
His executive order prohibited every federal agency from establishing, issuing, or promoting a CBDC inside the United States or abroad and terminated all ongoing research programs immediately.
That wasn't enough.
The housing bill's CBDC provision expires December 31, 2030 – after Trump leaves office.
Every administration after Trump would be free to flip the switch the moment the clock runs out.
St. Onge sees the timing for what it is: "Democrats and Republicans will keep trying to sneak in the back door no matter what voters think."
House Republicans pushing for a permanent ban are now threatening to block the entire housing bill over the temporary prohibition — arguing that a sunset clause creates legal precedent that the Fed is authorized to issue a CBDC the moment it expires.
The White House issued a statement supporting the bill, including its CBDC provision.
But the fight in the House is far from settled.
Your financial privacy is being traded for a housing bill that most Americans will never read — and the people doing the trading are counting on that.
Sources:
- Peter St. Onge, "Are Congressional Republicans About to Greenlight a CBDC?," The Heritage Foundation, March 2026.
- Jesse Hamilton, "U.S. Senate Votes to Ban CBDCs in Housing Bill That May Face Trouble in the House," CoinDesk, March 12, 2026.
- Mayer Brown, "US Senate Advances Housing Legislation That Includes a Ban on Institutional Investors Purchasing Single-Family Homes," Mayer Brown Insights, March 2026.
- Rep. Tom Emmer, "Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act Passes Financial Services Committee Markup," Emmer.House.Gov, April 2025.
- The White House, "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology," Executive Order, January 23, 2025.
- Sen. Mike Lee, "Lee Introduces Bill Making Trump Ban on Central Bank Digital Currency Permanent," Lee.Senate.Gov, February 2025.
