Scott Bessent said the U.S. Treasury Department is not currently planning Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. The Treasury secretary gave the update after years of federal discussion over replacing Andrew Jackson, and he offered no timetable for bringing the proposal back.
Scott Bessent and Joyce Beatty
Bessent told Spectrum News, “We are not at present,” when asked whether Treasury was still moving ahead with the plan. A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment beyond that remark. In May 2025, Representative Joyce Beatty asked him for an update on the Tubman bill and said he replied, “I can't, my staff will get back to you.”
Obama administration plan
The Obama administration announced in 2016 that Harriet Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Jacob Lew said the decision followed thousands of responses from Americans, and Tubman would have been the first African American on the face of U.S. paper currency. During Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, he called replacing Jackson with Tubman “pure political correctness.”
Janet Yellen and the $250 bill
Janet Yellen later revived the Tubman $20 bill project and said the new currency would not be ready until 2030 because of sophisticated anti-counterfeiting measures. Bessent has also said changing an existing bill, whether it is $1 through $100, takes many years in advance. He said the proposed $250 bill sought by some officials in the current Trump administration would require an act of Congress.
The latest Treasury position leaves the Tubman plan without a visible path forward. For now, Jackson remains on the $20 bill, and the question is whether the project has been paused or set aside for good.
