Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

Section 4 · The Economy

24 Federal Reserve

731–744 · Paul Winfree

  • 1 done
  • 2 partially done
  • 1 attempted
  • 18 not started

Major recommendations (4)

What has happened

The Mandate said

“Prevent the institution of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC would provide unprecedented surveillance and potential control of financial transactions without providing added benefits available through existing technologies.”

What happened

Partially done

The House passed the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (H.R. 1919) 219-210, which would write the ban into the Federal Reserve Act itself — barring Federal Reserve banks from issuing a CBDC directly or indirectly and from offering accounts or products to individuals. The Senate companion (S. 1124) has not moved out of the Banking Committee, and the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 119-60) carries no CBDC provision, so the prohibition remains executive-only.

The Mandate said

“Prevent the institution of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC would provide unprecedented surveillance and potential control of financial transactions without providing added benefits available through existing technologies.”

What happened

Partially done

Executive Order 14178, section 5, prohibits agencies from "undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs within the jurisdiction of the United States or abroad" and orders any ongoing CBDC plans or initiatives "immediately terminated." It also revoked Executive Order 14067 and Treasury's 2022 digital-asset framework. This is the ask carried out by executive action, but only in part: the order binds executive departments and agencies and is revocable at will, and the Federal Reserve — the only body that could issue a central bank digital currency — is an independent agency whose monetary functions the order's "agencies" definition does not reach.

The Mandate said

“Limit future balance sheet expansions to U.S. Treasuries. The Federal Reserve should be prohibited from picking winners and losers among asset classes. Above all, this means limiting Federal Reserve interventions in the mortgage-backed securities market.”

What happened

Attempted

The Federal Reserve adopted by its own decision the policy the Quote asks Congress to impose, without the limit. The implementation note of October 29, 2025 directs the Open Market Desk that "beginning on December 1, reinvest all principal payments from the Federal Reserve's holdings of agency securities into Treasury bills", replacing the previous instruction to reinvest into Treasury securities matching the outstanding maturity composition only above a $35 billion monthly cap. Every dollar coming out of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities now goes into Treasuries, and the July 2026 implementation note keeps that in force. Nothing prohibits a future Committee from buying other asset classes again, which is the limit Congress was asked to legislate.

The Mandate said

“The Federal Reserve should be precluded from any future purchases of MBSs and should wind down its holdings either by selling off the assets or by allowing them to mature without replacement.”

What happened

Partially done

The second half of this ask is being delivered and the first is not. From December 1, 2025 the Federal Open Market Committee directs the Desk to "reinvest all principal payments from the Federal Reserve's holdings of agency securities into Treasury bills" — mortgage-backed securities now mature without replacement, which is one of the two methods the Quote names, and the proceeds leave the mortgage market entirely. The H.4.1 release of August 27, 2026 shows agency mortgage-backed securities of $1,923,242 million, down $187,558 million over the year. Nothing precludes future purchases: the Committee retains the authority and could resume buying agency mortgage-backed securities at any meeting.

The Mandate said

“There should be no more “flexible average inflation targeting,” which amounts to ex post justification for bad policy.”

What happened

Done

Flexible average inflation targeting is gone from the Federal Reserve's own framework. On August 22, 2025 the Federal Open Market Committee announced unanimous approval of updates to its Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy, the consensus statement that "articulates the Committee's approach to monetary policy and serves as the foundation for its policy actions", saying the updates "reflect lessons from the economy over the past five years". The revised statement — reaffirmed effective January 27, 2026 and current — contains no occurrence of the word "average" and none of "shortfall": the 2020 language committing the Committee to inflation "that averages 2 percent over time" and to responding to "shortfalls of employment from its maximum level" was struck. What remains is a symmetric two percent goal with no makeup element.

Still to come

Executive action 6

  1. 733 Wind down the Federal Reserve's balance sheet to pre-2008 levels Notable Not started
  2. 734 Eliminate Fed interventions in corporate and municipal debt markets Notable Not started
  3. 735 Stop paying interest on excess reserves Notable Not started
  4. 740 Limit Fed regulatory activity to bank capital adequacy Minor Not started
  5. 740 Curb the Fed's excessive last-resort lending practices Minor Not started
  6. 741 Appoint a commission on the Fed's mission and alternatives to it Minor Not started

Needs Congress 12

  1. 732 Limit the Federal Reserve's mandate to the sole objective of stable money Major Not started
  2. 736 Abolish the Federal Reserve and move to free banking Major Not started
  3. 737 Back the dollar with gold at a Treasury-set price Major Not started
  4. 733 Limit the Fed's lender-of-last-resort function Notable Not started
  5. 734 Have Congress limit Federal Reserve balance sheet purchases Notable Not started
  6. 735 Restore the pre-2008 system founded on open-market operations Notable Not started
  7. 738 Adopt a K-Percent Rule for money creation Notable Not started
  8. 740 Compel the Fed to publish a target inflation range and growth path Notable Not started
  9. 740 Amend the Fed's financial stability mandate to bar ESG factors Notable Not started
  10. 738 Create gold-convertible Treasury instruments or a temporary parallel gold standard Minor Not started
  11. 738 Let individuals use commodity-backed money alongside the dollar Minor Not started
  12. 740 Consider NGDP targeting or a Taylor Rule as the Fed's monetary rule Minor Not started

All recommendations in this chapter

Every recommendation this chapter is the home of, in printed-page order.

  1. 732 Limit the Federal Reserve's mandate to the sole objective of stable money Needs Congress Not started
  2. 733 Limit the Fed's lender-of-last-resort function Needs Congress Not started
  3. 733 Wind down the Federal Reserve's balance sheet to pre-2008 levels Not started
  4. 734 Have Congress limit Federal Reserve balance sheet purchases Needs Congress Not started
  5. 734 Limit future Fed balance sheet expansions to U.S. Treasuries Needs Congress Attempted
  6. 734 Eliminate Fed interventions in corporate and municipal debt markets Not started
  7. 735 Bar future Fed purchases of mortgage-backed securities and sell off holdings Partially done
  8. 735 Stop paying interest on excess reserves Not started
  9. 735 Restore the pre-2008 system founded on open-market operations Needs Congress Not started
  10. 736 Abolish the Federal Reserve and move to free banking Needs Congress Not started
  11. 737 Back the dollar with gold at a Treasury-set price Needs Congress Not started
  12. 738 Create gold-convertible Treasury instruments or a temporary parallel gold standard Needs Congress Not started
  13. 738 Let individuals use commodity-backed money alongside the dollar Needs Congress Not started
  14. 738 Adopt a K-Percent Rule for money creation Needs Congress Not started
  15. 740 Consider NGDP targeting or a Taylor Rule as the Fed's monetary rule Needs Congress Not started
  16. 740 Compel the Fed to publish a target inflation range and growth path Needs Congress Not started
  17. 740 End "flexible average inflation targeting" Done
  18. 740 Limit Fed regulatory activity to bank capital adequacy Not started
  19. 740 Amend the Fed's financial stability mandate to bar ESG factors Needs Congress Not started
  20. 740 Curb the Fed's excessive last-resort lending practices Not started
  21. 741 Appoint a commission on the Fed's mission and alternatives to it Not started
  22. 741 Prevent creation of a central bank digital currency Partially done