The House of Representatives drew partisan lines in a vote to pass a Republican-led bill blocking a central bank digital currency. 

Lawmakers voted 216 to192, with 213 Republicans in favor of the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. Three Democrats voted for the bill, while 192 Democrats opposed it.

House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., introduced the bill in September 2023 to block the Federal Reserve Bank from issuing such an asset to individuals. CBDCs are a cryptocurrency issued and regulated by a country's central bank.

Emmer’s primary motivations stem from worries over broad monitoring of financial transactions. The lawmaker previously stated that CBDCs are “government-controlled programmable money that, if not designed to emulate cash, could give the federal government …