Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said today that a decision by his predecessor to put African-American abolitionist leader Harriett Tubman on the $20 bill would be delayed by 8 years.
“The primary reason we’ve looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues,” Mnuchin said. “Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028. The $10 and the $50 will come out with new features beforehand.”
President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced plans for Tubman to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill back in 2016. It was part of an effort to get more women on U.S. currency and the plan was set to go into effect in 2020.
In February, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, and Rep. John Katko, a New York Republican, re-introduced legislation to require the Treasury Department to put abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
“Too often, our nation does not do enough to honor the contributions of women in American history, especially women of color,” Cummings said in a statement. “Placing Harriet Tubman on our U.S. currency would be a fitting tribute to a woman who fought to make the values enshrined in our Constitution a reality for all Americans.”
