by Jesse Coghlan via Cointelegraph, reviewed by Felix Ng.
The US House and Senate have reached a deal to move forward with a housing bill that includes a ban on the Federal Reserve creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC) until 2030.
A bipartisan group of House and Senate leaders released an updated version of the 21st Century Road to Housing Act on Tuesday, which aims to address housing affordability and bans institutional investors from buying existing single-family homes to rent out.
The bill has included a CBDC ban since the Senate passed it in March. The House also passed its version of the bill with strong support in May, but the House and Senate disagreed on some aspects. The Senate has now added further amendments that will be put before the House for a final vote.
The bill is likely to pass quickly and would hand a win to Republicans who have tried to pass a CBDC ban for years, as earlier standalone bills had stalled in Congress. Crypto advocates have long criticized CBDCs, which they see as an attempt by governments to repurpose crypto technology to a centrally-controlled asset.
The deal also means Congress can focus on passing other legislation before the August recess and the November midterm elections, in particular, the crypto-regulating CLARITY Act that many lawmakers have been pushing to advance.
House Republican leaders plan to put the bill up for a vote after the House returns from recess on June 23, two people familiar with the plan told Politico.
The housing bill includes language that says the Federal Reserve may not, directly or indirectly, “issue or create a central bank digital currency or any digital asset that is substantially similar to a central bank digital currency.”
It adds the clause will expire on Dec. 31, 2030, and creates a carveout for crypto stablecoins, or “dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private.”
The clause revives much of the language from Republican Representative Tom Emmer’s Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which was introduced in June 2025, passed by the House the next month, but was never picked up in the Senate.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 banning federal agencies from all work related to CBDCs, saying they threatened “the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/congress-reaches-deal-housing-bill-cbdc-ban-until-2030
The Hudson Institute hosted Dr. Steven Quay on Monday afternoon for a discussion on COVID-19 origins, during which he presented genetic evidence from his new book, The Code as Witness, arguing that the virus originated through gain-of-function research in a Chinese lab.
Years later, there has still been no accountability for what Quay argues was a Chinese lab leak that killed more than one million Americans and caused U.S. economic damages in excess of $18 trillion. Nor has there been a unified U.S. government consensus on the lab-leak theory, let alone on potential consequences for China or Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In the roughly one-hour discussion, which was opened by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a leading voice for stronger oversight of high-risk biological research, Quay, a Hudson senior fellow, said features encoded in the virus's genetic material point directly to lab manipulation rather than natural zoonosis.
Quay warned that irresponsible and unregulated gain-of-function research is accelerating globally and could produce pathogens far deadlier than the one that caused COVID.
Last week, Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a set of internal intelligence slides documenting a long-running US program that has funded a global network of biolabs that handle dangerous pathogens - including dozens in Ukraine.
Returning to Quay's discussion at Hudson, he pointed to several genetic features he says are difficult to explain by natural evolution alone, making it impossible. These include the furin cleavage site, the virus's early optimization for human ACE2 receptors, the ORF8 gene, restriction-enzyme patterns, and the rapid D614-to-G614 mutation.
Hudson Senior Fellow David Asher, drawing on decades of national security and intelligence work at the State Department, spoke with Quay about the confluence of the U.S. government and scientists who censored the lab-leak theory.
Asher told Quay that, years after the pandemic, there is still no formal COVID commission that gives the American people a clear understanding of where the virus came from, who should be held responsible, or a unified government consensus on the virus.
The Quay-Asher discussion then shifted to the biosecurity policy. They spoke of the urgent need for accountability, biosafety reform, and risk reduction as gain-of-function research accelerates globally.
Even with no clear federal government consensus on COVID origins, a recent YouGov poll demonstrated sharp partisan divides among the American people: 80% of Republicans and 47% of Democrats say the virus came from a Chinese lab. Meanwhile, 66% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats think it is definitely or probably true that the virus was released on purpose.
The American people demand accountability. It is time for a COVID commission.
by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times,
The dim tunnel passage hugs narrow, winding concrete steps that lead 55 feet down, with a ceiling no higher than 4 1/2 feet, making it a claustrophobe's nightmare.
The underground passage stretching from Tijuana, Mexico, to a warehouse in California near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry known as "Buy 4 Less" is about 2,000 feet long and features reinforced walls, rail, ventilation, and electrical systems.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said on June 1 that the tunnel had been discovered during a Homeland Security investigation involving a suspected drug smuggling operation.
Four people were charged with conspiring to distribute more than a ton of cocaine worth $45 million. Authorities said the discovery dealt a blow to the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars of narcotics have probably made their way through this tunnel. Imagine the national security implications of that," drug czar Sara Carter told host Jan Jekielek on a recent episode of EpochTV's "American Thought Leaders."
Carter said federal agencies have been turning to technology to help combat cartels, although she couldn't disclose details. She said the cartels' use of tunnels to transport illicit drugs shows that they are feeling U.S. pressure along the border.
"They're having a much harder time getting their product across the border because we've shut it down," she said.
Carter attributes it to the Trump administration's whole-of-government approach to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the country, at the border and beyond.
Carter was sworn in this January as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates anti-narcotics policy for 19 federal agencies. The office leads the Trump administration's effort to reduce illicit drug manufacturing, trafficking, drug use, and overdose deaths.
"Our Homeland Security task forces, now under President Trump, have the capability ... to do what's needed to cut off the heads of the snake," she said.
Carter attributed President Donald Trump's efforts to close the border to illegal immigrants and designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations as significant factors in reducing the flow of drugs across the border, and ultimately driving overdose deaths.
Yet Carter said the cartels aren't the only problem fueling drug use in the United States - adversarial nationals are also part of the problem.
"We have adversaries that have contaminated our supply chain. We have cartels that couldn't care less," she said.
Carter acknowledged the Chinese Communist Party's involvement in the precursor chemicals to make fentanyl distributed by the cartels.
"It is unrestricted warfare," she said.
"I have already spoken with Chinese counterparts about this. I have made it very clear that we understand, and we know where these precursor chemicals are coming from, and that it will not be tolerated."
Carter said China has been put on notice to disclose such chemicals in shipments coming into the United States. Likewise, she has been talking to Mexican officials about safeguarding their own ports against the importation of illicit drugs.
At U.S. ports, the government is also working to hold private industry accountable. If cargo ships are caught with precursor chemicals, then the federal government will hold them accountable, she said.
"We're looking at all kinds of new technology, technology that was unheard of in the past," she said. "How can we implement this technology to ensure that the cargo that is coming in is clean?"
Carter said that countries understand that Trump is willing to wield U.S. power to stop the drug trade, putting nations on notice around the world.
Trump's military operation in Venezuela resulted in the arrest of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who had a $50 million bounty on his head as the alleged leader of the De Los Soles cartel, which was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
"One of the best operations I've ever seen conducted," Carter said. "We have done what we said we were going to do. There were no more games."
She also said that the amount of cocaine and other drugs flowing from Venezuela has dropped since Maduro's capture.
Trump's projection of strength has led to unprecedented cooperation from both Mexico and China, she said.
One example is a February operation in which the United States provided Mexico with intelligence that they used to take down the Jalisco New Generation cartel's kingpin, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho."
Mexican officials cooperated with the United States, sending in the Mexican National Guard and special forces to confront the cartel's leader, Carter said.
"We said, 'Look, here's the information, go get them,' and they did, and we'd never seen that before, not like that, not in that same way, not with that cooperation," she said.
Likewise, China's Ministry of Public Security has been uncharacteristically cooperative, she said. FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to China in November 2025 to meet with his counterpart to discuss stopping the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals.
During Patel's visit, the Chinese regime agreed on a plan to stop fentanyl-related chemicals as part of its deal with the Trump administration to crack down on the lethal synthetic opioid.
Two milligrams of fentanyl - the size of a few grains of salt - can be fatal. The drug has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Overdose deaths have been decreasing, but Carter said there are still far too many.
She said 68,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2025, down from a high of 112,000 in 2023. Some have attributed that decrease to a reduction in the amount of fentanyl found in street drugs.
Carter said she does not consider it an overdose when a person orders what he believes to be Adderall online and then dies because the pills are laced with fentanyl.
"This is unacceptable. This is the United States of America," she said.
by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
Crypto scammers are using couriers to pick up cash from victims in person to avoid being traced by banks, the FBI is warning.
The fraudsters first approach targets, typically seniors, with business or romantic proposals via social media, texts, or a fake cryptocurrency investment profile, the bureau said in a June 15 public service announcement alert.
“After establishing a relationship with the victim, the scammer suggests investing in cryptocurrency and instructs the victim to download specific cryptocurrency trading applications and create investment accounts.”
Typically, victims are asked to send wire transfers to various domestic and international bank accounts under the guise of deposit accounts.
They get access to websites showing fictitious returns on investment, which entices them to deposit even more money.
Legitimate financial institutions often flag such transfers as suspicious and block them. To bypass this, scammers are instructing victims to hand over money to fake investment accounts via in-person cash pickups.
The victims are led to believe the money they send will be deposited into their investment accounts.
“Once the cash pickup occurs and the courier departs, victims can see an increase in deposits in their virtual wallet displayed on their account with the scammer’s investment platform,” the FBI said.
“When the victim attempts to withdraw their perceived profits, scammers will begin the loop over by forcing the victim to pay fraudulent taxes and penalties, again using couriers for cash pickups to perpetrate the fraud.”
In 2024 the FBI issued an alert about couriers being used by scammers who had convinced their victims into liquidating their assets into cash or precious metals.
The fraudsters, posing as tech support or government officials, would insist such an action was necessary to protect the target’s funds because their financial accounts were hacked or at risk of being hacked.
In its latest alert, the FBI advised people to protect their personal information, such as banking details, and to never meet with unknown individuals to hand over cash or other valuables as part of any investment scheme.
“Beware of ‘love bombing,’ a social manipulation technique employed by online scammers and other malicious actors wherein a victim is quickly showered with praise, attention, and manipulated to feel trust and intimacy with a person prior to having their lowered guard exploited by a scam or other malicious behavior,” the agency said.
According to the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, published in April, the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 181,565 complaints regarding various cryptocurrency schemes last year, up 21 percent from 2024.
Losses from these complaints totaled over $11.36 billion. The average loss was $62,604, and 18,589 people lost more than $100,000 each.
The largest group of complaints filed were made by people over the age of 60. They also suffered the highest losses, totaling more than $4.43 billion.
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/crypto-scammers-using-couriers-collect-cash-avoid-detection-fbi
by Noi Mahoney via FreightWaves,
The Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC) has filed a court petition seeking to force federal regulators to decertify the commercial driver’s license programs of New York and California.
The petition, filed June 10, asks the court to review actions by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation and order the agencies to revoke the authority of New York and California to issue CDLs, escalating a dispute over immigration-related licensing policies and English-language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
SBTC argues that FMCSA has already determined both states were in “substantial noncompliance” with federal CDL regulations and therefore must be decertified under federal law. The organization contends that federal statutes require the transportation secretary to prohibit a state from issuing CDLs once such a determination is made.
The filing, made in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, specifically challenges FMCSA’s April 16 final determination regarding New York and also seeks relief related to a Jan. 7 determination involving California.
SBTC alleges the agency improperly failed to act on a petition it submitted in May 2025 requesting decertification orders against several states, including New York and California.
The lawsuit comes less than two weeks after a fatal bus crash on Interstate 95 in Virginia that killed five people and injured dozens more.
According to the court filing, SBTC points to the May 29 crash as evidence that stronger enforcement of federal licensing standards is needed. The organization alleges the bus driver involved held a New York-issued CDL despite concerns about English-language proficiency.
The crash involved a bus operated by E&P Travel Inc. Federal investigators are examining the company’s connections to a broader network of bus operators in the Northeast, according to CBS News. The driver, identified by CBS News as Jing S. Dong of Staten Island, New York, faces five felony involuntary manslaughter charges.
SBTC’s petition centers on FMCSA’s nationwide review of state CDL programs following changes to federal rules governing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses.
The coalition says FMCSA’s audits initially identified 24 states and the District of Columbia as being in substantial noncompliance with federal CDL requirements. According to the filing, New York and California ultimately received final notices of substantial noncompliance after federal reviews of their handling of non-domiciled CDL and permit applications.
The petition alleges New York’s noncompliance rate exceeded 55%, while California’s was about 25% during federal audits. SBTC argues those findings legally trigger mandatory decertification orders.
FMCSA previously warned multiple states that they could face funding consequences or additional enforcement actions if they failed to comply with federal CDL standards for non-domiciled drivers.
The lawsuit follows a separate high-profile challenge brought by Florida against California and Washington.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Florida’s request to file an original-action lawsuit alleging California and Washington violated federal law by issuing CDLs to undocumented immigrants.
The case stemmed from a fatal crash on Florida’s Turnpike involving a truck driver who reportedly held a California-issued CDL and had previously been licensed in Washington.
