Woke Fail: Treasury Dept. Has No Plan to Replace Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill
The Trump administration has ended a long-running effort by Democrats to replace Andrew Jackson with abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, according to a report.
The plan was first announced in 2016 by then-outgoing President Barack Obama’s administration.
According to comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the plan is dead, although he did not elaborate.
During an interview with Spectrum News, Bessent was asked about the Tubman bill.
When asked by the outlet whether the Treasury Department was still planning to move forward with putting Tubman on the $20 notes, Bessent responded plainly, “We are not, at present.”
ICYMI from Monday:
“Is Treasury still planning to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill?”
“We are not at present,” @SecScottBessent told me.
Here’s a full write-up from my colleague @casssemyon, who has been following this story for months:https://t.co/xci3JNjBrS pic.twitter.com/075qauhq4u
— Taylor Popielarz (@TaylorPopielarz) July 8, 2026
As Spectrum News noted, the Obama administration wanted the bills in circulation by 2020.
President Donald Trump blocked the plan before it went into effect.
In April 2016, Trump praised Tubman as a “fantastic” historical person.
But he essentially laid into the plan to replace Jackson, the former president and military tactician, as woke nonsense.
“Well, Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it’s very rough when you take somebody off the bill,” Trump said.
He added, “I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic, but I would love to leave Andrew Jackson or see if we can maybe come up with another denomination.”
The president added that Jackson “had a history of tremendous success for the country.”
Of the country’s seventh president, Trump said he “really represented somebody really that was very important to this country.
“I would love to see another denomination, and that could take place. I think that would be more appropriate.”
In 2019, then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the plan to add Tubman to the $20 bill under the original timeline was never realistic.
Larry Felix, who was formerly the head of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, also commented on the Tubman plan in comments to The Washington Post.
“Those announcements were not grounded in reality,” he said.
“The U.S. had not at the time acquired the security features to redesign and protect the notes.”
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