I have learned to read the dull bills closely, because that is where the consequential riders tend to hide. The housing package the Senate passed this week is a good example.

On Monday, June 22, the Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), an affordability bill that CBS News ranks among the most significant in decades. Most of its 300-odd pages deal with how to build more houses and lower what they cost. Section 1001 is the exception. It would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a central bank digital currency, or anything substantially similar, until the end of 2030. The bill now goes to the House for a final vote, and the White House has signaled the president will sign it.

A CBDC is a digital…