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Senator to Treasury: Don’t Delay the Harriet Tubman $20 Bill

The Obama team’s plan to put civil rights and women's icons on money as early as 2020 could be delayed under the Trump administration.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is calling on the Treasury Department to prioritize the release of the Harriet Tubman $20 bill in a letter she sent Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday.

The letter comes after The Daily Beast reported that the schedule for redesigns of the $20, $10, and $5 bill to feature civil rights and women’s icons has not been finalized under the Trump administration.

Shaheen asked Mnuchin if the Department of the Treasury plans to release the new notes by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the amendment that gave women the right to vote and the tentative redesign release date announced by the Obama administration in 2016.

“This recognition is long overdue. Women have been a critical part of our nation’s history and values, and the lack of a woman on our American currency is glaring oversight,” Shaheen wrote.

In 2016, the Treasury Department announced plans to place Tubman’s likeness on the $20 bill, replacing President Andrew Jackson who would move to the back. The back of $10 bill will nod to leaders of women’s suffrage like Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony, while the back of the $5 bill will feature civil rights leaders like Marian Anderson.

According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the $10 bill will be the next note set for recirculation in 2026. The rollouts for new bills could be delayed even further due to anti-counterfeiting efforts; the $20 bill is the most counterfeited U.S. bill, according to Reuters.  

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Elisha Brown

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