Trump Won’t Sign Housing Bill With CBDC Ban—Will It Become Law Tonight Anyway?

President Donald Trump said Thursday he will not sign a bipartisan housing bill that includes a multi-year ban on the issuance of a U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC.

Unless the president vetoes the legislation before midnight tonight, it will automatically become law.

“I will not sign the housing bill,” Trump said wrote on Truth Social, calling his action a “protest” against the Senate’s failure to pass the SAVE America Act, a controversial bill restricting voting rights that he has been championing for months. Congressional Republican leadership has repeatedly emphasized that the bill has little to no chance of passage.

But Trump’s refusal to sign the The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act would not kill the bill. Under the Constitution, a bill passed by Congress automatically becomes law after ten days without the president’s signature, provided Congress remains in session. That deadline expires at the end of Friday.

Achieved by DeclutterA White House spokesperson declined to say whether Trump plans to veto the legislation before then, referring the investigation to the president’s Truth Social post.

If Trump issues a formal veto before midnight tonight, the bill will return to Congress. There, lawmakers would have to reauthorize the bill with a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The legislation previously passed both chambers by veto-proof margins, passing the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is primarily aimed at stimulating American housing construction by reducing regulations. It also limits the possibilities of institutional investors to buy up homes. Earlier this year, lawmakers also added a provision to the bill that would ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency until the end of 2030.

The CBDC language was welcomed by crypto and privacy advocates, who have argued that a government-issued digital dollar could enable federal oversight of Americans’ financial transactions. While the Federal Reserve has continued to investigate the technology, it has repeatedly said it would not issue CBDC without congressional approval.