Senate Democrats have demanded a watchdog probe into the money the Treasury Department has burned chasing a $250 bill bearing President Donald Trump’s face.
The push to plant Trump, 80, on the nation’s cash has been bubbling for months.
A law on the books says that only a “deceased individual” can appear on U.S. currency, so the president cannot legally feature on a banknote while he is alive—and a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) to clear that hurdle has gone nowhere. The Daily Beast reported in May how two Trump appointees had leaned on the government’s money-printers to draw up prototypes anyway.
Now Democrats want the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General to dig into the spending, Axios reports. The letter, delivered Tuesday, was led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. They branded the proposed note “an illegal $250 bill.”
“At a time when Americans continue to face rising costs, the Treasury Department should be focused on addressing pressing economic concerns rather than devoting resources to what appears to be an illegal vanity project for the President,” it read.
Sens. Ron Wyden, Catherine Cortez Masto and Chuck Schumer also signed the request, which landed on the desk of Deputy Inspector General Loren Sciurba. The top inspector general post at Treasury is currently empty.
The senators want the watchdog to work out how much cash has been spent on the project, whether outsiders were pulled in, and if anyone bothered to discuss whether the whole thing was legal.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 63, has conceded that the law blocks living faces from the currency. But he told reporters in late May that his department was getting ready in case Wilson’s bill passes, and that he saw nothing “untoward” about putting Trump’s mug on the money.
A Treasury spokesperson previously told Axios the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was “conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” in response to Wilson’s legislation.
The spokesperson added that Treasurer Brandon Beach, who The Washington Post reported had pushed bureau staff to prepare prototypes, “never asked staff to print the $250 note before congressional action occurs.”
The plan is not exactly a crowd-pleaser. More than a quarter of MAGA supporters opposed it, according to an Economist-YouGov poll. Among all respondents, seven in 10 were against it.
Trump is already worming his way onto the country’s cash by other routes. His name now appears on U.S. paper currency alongside Bessent’s—a first for any sitting president—to mark America’s 250th birthday.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Treasury Department and the White House for comment.
