SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responds to Rep. Ayanna Pressley during a House hearing on Wednesday. (Screengrab)
Watch: Congresswoman Pressley Presses Mnuchin to Explain Delay of Harriet Tubman's $20 Bill
"People other than white men built this county... Mnuchin agrees, yet he refuses to update our currency."
May 22, 2019
"#RepresentationMatters," tweeted Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Wednesday, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that a planned redesign of the $20 bill--which would have featured abolitionist and suffragist Harriet Tubman--will not meet an initial 2020 deadline as planned.
In 2016, the Obama administration announced the new design, which would have booted former President Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder who signed the Indian Removal Act, to the backside and put the Underground Railroad hero to the front. The planned launch for 2020 was to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Mnuchin suggested it would come eight years later, if at all.
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Pressley pressed Mnuchin about whether the 2020 deadline would be met.
"The primary reason we have looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues," Mnuchin told the Massachusetts Democrat.
"Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028," he said. "The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand."
Watch the exchange below:
Further questioned by Pressley, he said, "The ultimate decision on the redesign will most likely be another secretary down the road."
"We will meet the security feature redesign in 2020. The imagery feature will not be an issue that comes up until most likely 2026," he said, and suggested that 2028 was a more likely timeline.
\u201cPeople other than white men built this county. And Sec Mnuchin agrees, yet he refuses to update our #currency. #HarrietTubman #MarianAnderson & #EleanorRoosevelt are iconic Americans & its past time that our \ud83d\udcb5 reflects that. #RepresentationMatters | https://t.co/nJmhiktHPm\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1558537260
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
"#RepresentationMatters," tweeted Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Wednesday, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that a planned redesign of the $20 bill--which would have featured abolitionist and suffragist Harriet Tubman--will not meet an initial 2020 deadline as planned.
In 2016, the Obama administration announced the new design, which would have booted former President Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder who signed the Indian Removal Act, to the backside and put the Underground Railroad hero to the front. The planned launch for 2020 was to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Mnuchin suggested it would come eight years later, if at all.
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Pressley pressed Mnuchin about whether the 2020 deadline would be met.
"The primary reason we have looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues," Mnuchin told the Massachusetts Democrat.
"Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028," he said. "The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand."
Watch the exchange below:
Further questioned by Pressley, he said, "The ultimate decision on the redesign will most likely be another secretary down the road."
"We will meet the security feature redesign in 2020. The imagery feature will not be an issue that comes up until most likely 2026," he said, and suggested that 2028 was a more likely timeline.
\u201cPeople other than white men built this county. And Sec Mnuchin agrees, yet he refuses to update our #currency. #HarrietTubman #MarianAnderson & #EleanorRoosevelt are iconic Americans & its past time that our \ud83d\udcb5 reflects that. #RepresentationMatters | https://t.co/nJmhiktHPm\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1558537260
"#RepresentationMatters," tweeted Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Wednesday, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that a planned redesign of the $20 bill--which would have featured abolitionist and suffragist Harriet Tubman--will not meet an initial 2020 deadline as planned.
In 2016, the Obama administration announced the new design, which would have booted former President Andrew Jackson, a slaveholder who signed the Indian Removal Act, to the backside and put the Underground Railroad hero to the front. The planned launch for 2020 was to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Mnuchin suggested it would come eight years later, if at all.
During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Pressley pressed Mnuchin about whether the 2020 deadline would be met.
"The primary reason we have looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues," Mnuchin told the Massachusetts Democrat.
"Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028," he said. "The $10 bill and the $50 bill will come out with new features beforehand."
Watch the exchange below:
Further questioned by Pressley, he said, "The ultimate decision on the redesign will most likely be another secretary down the road."
"We will meet the security feature redesign in 2020. The imagery feature will not be an issue that comes up until most likely 2026," he said, and suggested that 2028 was a more likely timeline.
\u201cPeople other than white men built this county. And Sec Mnuchin agrees, yet he refuses to update our #currency. #HarrietTubman #MarianAnderson & #EleanorRoosevelt are iconic Americans & its past time that our \ud83d\udcb5 reflects that. #RepresentationMatters | https://t.co/nJmhiktHPm\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1558537260
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.