Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has confirmed that the plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill is dead, ending a nearly decade-long political tug-of-war over whose face belongs on one of America's most widely circulated banknotes.
The decision, first reported by the Washington Examiner, marks the third time the Tubman redesign has been blocked or reversed since Obama-era Treasury officials first announced the change in 2016. Andrew Jackson will remain on the front of the bill.
The push to put Tubman on the $20 began under President Obama. In April 2016, Obama's Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that Tubman, the famed abolitionist and conductor of the Underground Railroad, would replace Jackson on the front of the bill. The redesign was initially scheduled for release around 2020, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage.
Then-candidate Donald Trump made his position clear before he ever took office. In a 2016 interview, Trump called the decision "pure political correctness."
"I think it's pure political correctness. He's been on the bill for many, many years and you know, really represented somebody that was really important to this country."
Trump did not frame his objection as opposition to Tubman herself. He praised Tubman in the same remarks, calling her "fantastic," while suggesting she could appear on a different denomination instead of displacing Jackson.
"I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic. I would love to leave Andrew Jackson and see if maybe we can come up with another denomination."
Trump specifically floated the $2 bill as an alternative. He pointed to Jackson's record, saying the seventh president had "a history of tremendous success for the country."
Once in office, Trump's first Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, took a different approach than outright cancellation. In May 2019, Mnuchin announced the redesign would not happen until at least 2028, with a final design decision deferred to 2026. That timeline effectively ensured no Tubman bill would appear during Trump's first term and left the call to a future Treasury secretary.
Mnuchin framed the delay around security, not politics. He told reporters his focus was on anti-counterfeiting technology, not aesthetics.
"It is my responsibility to focus on the issue of counterfeiting and the security features."
He also acknowledged the decision would likely fall to someone else. "The ultimate decision on the redesign will most likely be another secretary's down the road," Mnuchin told Fox News.
That explanation drew sharp skepticism from Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer questioned whether the White House had directed the delay and asked the Treasury Department's inspector general to investigate. The IG's office agreed to review the matter.
Schumer cast the fight in broader terms, arguing that paper currency failed to represent the country's population. "There are no women, there are no people of color on our paper currency today, even though they make up a significant majority of our population," the New York Democrat said.
When Joe Biden took office in 2021, his administration moved to restart the Tubman redesign. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki signaled the new president's intent early, telling reporters the change carried symbolic weight.
"It is important that our notes, our money reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman's image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that."
The Biden administration's effort to accelerate the timeline represented a direct reversal of the Mnuchin-era delay. But that push never produced a finished product before Biden left office.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively on a range of policy fronts since returning to power, from enlisting banks to flag payroll fraud tied to illegal immigrant labor to unwinding Biden-era enforcement decisions across multiple agencies.
Now, with Bessent's confirmation that the redesign is not moving forward, the Tubman $20 bill appears finished for the duration of Trump's second term at minimum. The decision aligns with the position Trump staked out publicly nine years ago and never abandoned.
The currency fight has always been about more than graphic design. For supporters of the change, putting Tubman on the $20 was a long-overdue recognition of a woman who risked her life to free enslaved Americans. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, argued during the first Trump term that the nation's money failed to match its history. Pressley told Newsmax, "Currently our currency does not reflect the diversity of people who have contributed to our great American history."
For Trump and his allies, the issue was framed differently: as a politically motivated effort to erase a consequential president from a place of honor he has held since 1928. Trump's consistent position has been that Tubman deserves recognition but not at Jackson's expense.
The broader pattern of the Trump administration reversing Biden-era initiatives extends well beyond currency. Federal courts have become a key battleground, with judges freezing some Trump administration spending programs while upholding others. The back-and-forth reflects a government still sorting out which policy reversals will survive legal scrutiny and which will face challenges.
No legal challenge to the Tubman decision has been announced. Currency design falls squarely within the Treasury Department's authority, and courts have historically treated it as a discretionary executive function rather than a justiciable question. That makes this one of the cleaner policy reversals available to any administration: no legislation required, no judicial review expected.
The practical effect is straightforward. The $20 bill will continue to feature Andrew Jackson for the foreseeable future. Any future effort to revive the Tubman design would require a new administration willing to restart the process from scratch, likely with a fresh design, updated security features, and another multi-year production timeline.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued to use Treasury Department authority to advance enforcement priorities on other fronts, including scrutinizing Biden-era immigration and parole decisions that watchdog reports have called into question.
Bessent's announcement did not include any mention of alternative plans to honor Tubman on a different denomination, the compromise Trump himself once suggested. Whether that idea resurfaces remains to be seen.
Three presidents, three Treasury secretaries, and nearly a decade of political combat over a single piece of paper. In the end, Jackson stays. The question was never really about the bill.
