The U.S. House and Senate have reached a deal on the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency until 2030.
The U.S. House and Senate have reached a bipartisan agreement on the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, a housing affordability bill that includes an explicit prohibition on the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) until the end of 2030. The deal was announced on Tuesday, June 17, 2026, when a bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders released an updated version of the text.
The bill, in addition to addressing housing affordability, prohibits institutional investors from purchasing existing single-family homes for rental purposes. The anti-CBDC clause was already present in the version passed by the Senate in March, while the House had in turn approved its own version with broad support in May. The two chambers of Congress diverged on certain aspects, however: the Senate has now introduced further amendments that will be submitted to the House for a final vote. According to two people familiar with the plans, House Republican leaders intend to bring the text to a vote after returning from the summer recess, scheduled for June 23, as reported by Politico.
The text of the bill provides that the Federal Reserve may not, directly or indirectly, “issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset substantially similar to a central bank digital currency.” The clause will expire on December 31, 2030, and includes an explicit exemption for dollar-denominated stablecoins, defined as dollar-denominated currencies that are open, permissionless, and private.
The language of the provision largely mirrors that of the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act proposed by Republican Representative Tom Emmer in June 2025, which passed the House the following month but was never taken up by the Senate. The measure would represent a significant victory for Republicans, who have for years attempted to pass a CBDC ban through standalone legislation, blocked in Congress until now. As the Trump administration had already done through Treasury Secretary Bessent, opposition to state digital currencies is now also consolidating on the legislative front.
The agreement also frees up space on Congress’s legislative agenda before the August summer recess and the November midterm elections. Attention can thus focus in particular on the CLARITY Act, the cryptocurrency regulation bill that many lawmakers are pushing to pass before the recess. On this front, a coalition of 200 companies had already urged the Senate to vote on the Clarity Act in recent days.
