Harriet Tubman, circa 1870
HB Lindsey | Files Underwood | Getty Images
The Biden administration will revive the push to make Harriet Tubman the face of the new $ 20 bill, an effort that was left behind during the tenure of former President Donald Trump.
“We are exploring ways to accelerate that effort,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday after asking if the new administration would pick up on the Obama-era initiative.
The $ 20 updated note with Tubman, the former slave who became an icon of the abolition movement, would originally be presented around the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
But Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced during a 2019 congressional hearing that the redesign would be delayed until 2028. Mnuchin said at the time that the main reason for redesigning a currency is to combat counterfeiting efforts.
Psaki said Monday that the Treasury Department “is taking steps to resume efforts” to put Tubman’s image at the forefront of the new $ 20 bills.
It’s important that U.S. bills “reflect the history and diversity of our country,” Psaki said, “and the image of Harriet Tubman that adorned the new $ 20 note would certainly reflect that.”
Tubman’s face on the bill would replace that of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. Trump was such a big fan of Jackson that he presented a portrait of Jackson in the oval office. Biden, who took office last Wednesday, withdrew the portrait.
Trump before being elected had described the plan to replace Jackson with Tubman as “pure political correctness.”
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Psaki’s statements.
Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury of former President Barack Obama, who led the effort to put Tubman at $ 20, did not comment immediately.