President Trump’s Administration Abandons the Harriet Tubman $20 Bill Plan After a Decade

President Donald Trump‘s administration has officially halted a decade-old plan to put abolitionist Harriet Tubman‘s face on the $20 bill.

According to a Spectrum News report published on Tuesday, July 7, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked the previous day: “Is Treasury still planning to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill?” He replied, “We are not at present,” and did not elaborate further.

The redesign was first announced in 2016 by then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, 70, under President Barack Obama, 64, to honor Tubman, who is credited with leading 13 missions on the Underground Railroad that freed approximately 70 enslaved people, per the report.

The bill was originally slated to enter circulation in 2020, but Trump’s first administration pushed that timeline back, citing the need for new anti-counterfeiting technology, according to the article. When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, his press secretary called the redesign a priority, though the projected release date slipped again, to 2030.

The outlet also noted that the administration’s approach to the Tubman bill contrasts with its handling of a proposed $250 bill featuring Trump, 80, to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, which officials have signaled they’re ready to fast-track pending congressional approval.

According to the outlet, when asked why Treasury is moving on the $250 note while stalling on the Tubman $20, Bessent, 63, said, “The 250 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.”

Trump previously dismissed the Tubman redesign as “pure political correctness” while campaigning in 2016, suggesting she instead be honored on a different denomination, per the report.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-N.H., who has introduced legislation supporting the Tubman bill since 2015, said in a statement per the outlet that she was “extremely disappointed to hear that Secretary Bessent has halted plans to put Harriet Tubman’s likeness on the $20 bill.” Shaheen, 79, added, “Though Secretary Bessent may be more interested in illegally plastering Donald Trump’s image on a $250 bill, putting a woman on a U.S. bill remains long overdue.”