Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday declined to say whether the Trump administration would continue with a plan to depict Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
Asked during a CNBC television interview about removing President Andrew Jackson from the currency in place of Tubman, an abolitionist and former slave, Mnuchin said: “It’s not something that I’m focused on at the moment.”
The most important reason to make currency changes is to stop counterfeiting, he said.
“People have been on the bills for a long period of time,” he said. “This is something we’ll consider. Right now, we have a lot more important issues to focus on.”
In April 2016, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said he asked the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to accelerate work on the new $20 bill with Tubman on the front. He said he expected the final concept design for the new $20 bill and other bills to be unveiled in 2020 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
