The Trump administration has halted plans to feature Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirming that the department is not currently working on the proposal.
The Obama administration first announced the plan in 2016 to replace Andrew Jackson's image with Tubman's, making her the first African American on U.S. paper currency. Tubman, famously was an enslaved woman who undertook dangerous missions to save hundreds of people via the Underground Railroad, a system of hiding places that took slaves from the South and set them free in the North.
For his part, President Donald Trump criticized the idea of adding her to the $20 bill as "pure political correctness" and suggested Tubman could appear on a different bill. No official reason was given for pushing back on the plan.
Even if it was re-started today, experts said the redesigned bill would not be available until 2030 due to anti-counterfeiting security requirements.
While the Tubman $20 bill remains on hold, there have been discussions about a possible $250 bill featuring Trump for the United States' 250th anniversary, although Bessent warned that even that would take years.
Bessent told Spectrum News: "The 250 (Trump bill) requires an act of Congress, because you can't have a living person (on U.S. currency), and it was to commit [sic] – for the 250th anniversary.""For us to change an existing bill, whether it's $1 through $100, takes many years in advance," he added.
