Harriet Tubman, around 1870
HB Lindsey | Underwood Files | Getty Images
The Biden government will revive the momentum to make Harriet Tubman the face of the new $ 20 bill, an effort that was shelved during the term of former President Donald Trump.
“We are exploring ways to accelerate this effort,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday after being asked whether the new government would adopt the Obama-era initiative.
The updated $ 20 bill with Tubman, the former slave who became an icon of the abolitionist movement, was originally created to be launched around the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
But Trump’s 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 on Monday that the Treasury Department is “taking steps to resume efforts” to put Tubman’s image in front of the new $ 20 bills.
It is important that US accounts “reflect the history and diversity of our country,” said Psaki, “and the image of Harriet Tubman adorning the new $ 20 bill would certainly reflect that.”
Tubman’s face in the bill would replace that of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. Trump was a huge Jackson fan who displayed a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office. Biden, who took office last Wednesday, removed the portrait.
Before being 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, Treasury Secretary to former President Barack Obama who led the effort to put Tubman at $ 20, did not immediately comment.