Maryland Republican's concerns on 'digital dollar' slow housing bill backed by Trump, Senate

Ben Mause, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 17, 2026

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WASHINGTON — A housing bill pushed by a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate and supported by the White House could open up opportunities for Marylanders, its supporters say. But the state’s lone Republican remains concerned that it needs to be changed before it’s sent to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The bill, titled the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, is a sweeping legislative package that would change or update an array of housing and banking policies, policies that lawmakers claim would help Maryland residents.

Some of its provisions deal directly with housing costs. Others focus on the broader work of the committees that crafted the bill, incorporating dozens of policies from both the House and Senate.

Despite the White House’s support of the bill, one of its more obscure provisions — a temporary prohibition of a government-backed digital currency — has proven an impediment to conservatives who would otherwise back the bill.

“The product coming over from the Senate needs to go through the normal legislative process when there is no agreement between the chambers — it should go to a House-Senate conference committee that irons out disagreements,” Rep. Andy Harris, an Eastern Shore Republican, said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.

The current bill prohibits the issuing of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) — a “digital dollar” that would share some features of cryptocurrency, backed by the Federal Reserve — until 2031. But some Republicans want a permanent prohibition, fearing what a CBDC could mean for private banks and individual privacy.

“One necessary change is making permanent the prohibition on the Federal Reserve establishing a central bank digital currency that would allow the government to know and control every transaction you make,” Harris said. “That can never be allowed in America.”

Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks said that while the final bill didn’t leave each lawmaker completely satisfied, it’s a step toward more people having homes, with pointed comments towards House lawmakers who aren’t on board — like Harris.

“You have to be tone deaf — and some other things — to ignore the pain of his own constituents, who have said that this issue is a primary issue for them,” Alsobrooks said.

“If you can afford your — the cost of your housing — then maybe you have patience to wait and hold it up. But my constituents can’t wait,” she added, saying that Congress needed to act now.

Harris said that language in the bill would allow the Federal Reserve to switch America to a central bank digital currency in 2031, similar to what the Chinese government employs, and allow the government access to citizens’ financial transactions.

“Housing is not the only issue in the Senate’s version of the ‘housing’ bill,” Harris said. He added that, while Democratic senators might be okay with adopting a CBDC, “the majority of freedom-loving Americans and the vast majority of people in my district don’t want that. So, who’s really tone deaf?”

Other reforms

Alsobrooks said her time as Prince George’s County executive informed the pieces of legislation that she helped craft — pieces that increase bank funding for affordable housing, help fund critical home repairs, and address racial bias in home appraisals.

“These policies are not theoretical; they are ones that are steeped in my experience as county executive,” Alsobrooks said.

She called the bias in home appraisals “a huge issue” during her time as executive — one that she saw cost homeowners thousands of dollars, if not more — that she believes the Appraisal Modernization Act would help correct.

Another Maryland-centered provision, the Bipartisan Whole-Home Repairs Act, would create a pilot program to help working families use federal funds to make home improvements, designed to help people who have ended up selling their homes because they couldn’t afford the cost of maintenance. ROAD to Housing would also reauthorize HOME, a federal affordable housing grant program. HOME sent more than $18 million to Maryland in 2024.

The legislation passed the Senate last week with broad support — 89-10, with both Alsobrooks and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen in favor.

Van Hollen also worked on multiple provisions that made it into the final bill. He focused on inclusions designed to improve veterans’ awareness of the VA Home Loan Program. The VA Home Loan Awareness Act and the Veterans Affairs Loan Informed Disclosure (VALID) Act were enacted to help veterans better understand how they can use them when applying for a mortgage.

“Whether they’re renting or buying, too many Marylanders are struggling to afford a place to live,” Van Hollen said in a statement to The Sun. “This bipartisan housing bill is a step forward, but it cannot be our only step — much more must be done to make housing affordable and accessible for more Marylanders and in communities across the country.”

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