The push to put Tubman on a $ 20 bill has restarted under Biden

WASHINGTON (AP) – With a change of administrations, it looks like Harriet Tubman is heading towards the front of the $ 20 bill again.

Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday the Treasury Department was taking action to resume efforts to put the 19th-century abolitionist leader on the $ 20 bill.

The Obama administration’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew had chosen Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson, the country’s seventh president, on the $ 20 bill.

But Tubman’s fate has been uncertain since the 2016 presidential campaign based on critical comments from then-candidate Donald Trump, who called the move “pure political correctness.”

The Trump administration’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has not followed through on the Obama administration’s decision. Instead, Mnuchin announced in 2019 a delay in redesigning the $ 20 bill to first redesign the $ 10 and $ 50 bills to improve security features to thwart counterfeiters.

The unveiling of the new $ 20 bill featuring Tubman, famous for his efforts to induce slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad, was timed by the Obama administration to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.

According to the timeline Mnuchin announced in May 2019, the redesigned $ 20 bill would not be released until 2028, with final designs for the bill not announced until 2026.

But Psaki told reporters in a briefing Monday that she and other officials were surprised to learn of the delays in Tubman’s bidding on the $ 20 bill. With a change in administrations, she said the Treasury Department was taking action to resume efforts to put Tubman on the $ 20 bill.

“It is important that our … money reflects the history and diversity of our country and the image of Harriet Tubman adorning the new $ 20 bill would certainly reflect that,” Psaki said. “We are exploring ways to accelerate this effort.”

Psaki said details of a new timeline for introducing a redesigned $ 20 with Tubman would be announced once finalized by the Treasury Department. Biden chose Janet Yellen to be his secretary of the treasury, the first woman to hold the post in 232 years.