Last year, the decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill caused the type of uproar that one would expect. And now, the Trump administration has stepped in to possibly downgrade/ignore that decision (President Trump does love talking about Andrew Jackson).
According to CNBC, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is focusing on different initiatives, but will look at whether or not to replace Jackson in the future. When asked about the Tubman bill, he said, “Ultimately we will be looking at this issue … It’s not something I’m focused on at the moment.” Mnuchin is currently more concerned on stopping counterfeiters:
“The No. 1 issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting. So the issues of what we change will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes. I’ve received classified briefings on that. And that’s what I’m focused on for the most part … People have been on the bills for a long period of time. And this is something we will consider. Right now, we’ve got a lot more important issues to focus on.”
When former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that the abolitionist hero would replace the slave-owning president, it kept Alexander Hamilton — newly popular because of the “Hamilton” musical — on the $10 bill. At this point, Mnuchin might just ignore all of that by announcing that Aaron Burr is replacing Hamilton.
(Via CNBC)