In Coronavirus Stimulus, US Congress Releases Bill Bringing About Digital Dollar

Amid contentious controversy over the drastic stimulus package in response to the coronavirus outbreak, Democrats in the United States House of Representatives seek to bring about the digital dollar to ease the process of distributing payments to U.S. citizens outside of the traditional financial system.

A digital dollar for direct payments to families

A March 23 draft of the legislation suggests the creation of digital wallets for U.S. citizens to be supported by the Federal Reserve within a section named “Direct Stimulus Payments for Families.”

The section describes $2,000 monthly payments to every adult earning less than $75,000 a year, at which points the payments taper off. These payments would continue until the economy stabilizes.

While the proposed bill does include the option of providing checks, it would require member banks of the Federal Reserve to run digital dollar wallets for all customers.

The massive stimulus package and current challenges

This version of a bill seems to be drafted by the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Bloomberg Law points out that the bill appeared on March 22.

The bill is lengthy, taking well over a thousand pages and aiming to distribute upwards of $1.8 billion.

On both March 22 and 23, Democrats in the Senate blocked the Republican version of the bill, which did not include digital dollars. The Democrats bashed the bill for supporting bailouts to big businesses at the expense of everyday citizens.

As of close of business on March 23, Speaker Pelosi had to create a counteroffer in the form of a bill laying out $2.5 trillion in stimulus funding. Currently no more details are available.