Harriet Tubman, circa 1870
HB Lindsey | Underwood Archives | Getty Images
The Biden administration will revive the pressure to make Harriet Tubman the face of the new $ 20 bill, an effort shelved during former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
“We are exploring ways to accelerate that effort,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday after being asked if the new administration would take over the Obama-era initiative.
The updated $ 20 note featuring Tubman, the former slave who became an icon of the abolition movement, was originally going to be unveiled around the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
But Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced in a 2019 congressional hearing that the redesign would be delayed until 2028. Mnuchin said at the time that the main reason for redesigning a coin is to combat counterfeiting.
Psaki said Monday that the Treasury Department is “taking steps to resume efforts” to put Tubman’s image on the front of the new $ 20 notes.
It’s important that US bills “reflect our country’s history and diversity,” said Psaki, “and Harriet Tubman’s image on the new $ 20 bill would certainly reflect that.”
Tubman’s face on the bill would replace Andrew Jackson, the seventh US president. Trump was such a big fan of Jackson that he showed a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office. Biden, who took office last Wednesday, removed the portrait.
Before he was elected, Trump had called the plan to replace Jackson with Tubman “ pure political correctness. ”
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Psaki’s comments.
Jack Lew, the Treasury Secretary under former President Barack Obama who spearheaded the bid to get Tubman on the $ 20, did not immediately comment.