Tubman $20 Halted Again

The Treasury Department has scrapped plans for a portrait of Harriet Tubman to be placed on the $20 bill, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday. In response to a question about the status of the bill from Spectrum News, Bessent said the Trump administration was “not at present” planning to place Tubman’s likeness on the note.

Ten years ago, the push to swap President Andrew Jackson with Tubman on the front of the bill began under President Barack Obama. The bill was originally set to be unveiled in 2020, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The Biden administration attempted to speed up the release of $20 bills with the famous abolitionist after the first Trump administration shelved the project, but to no avail. The most recent legislation to place Tubman’s portrait on the $20 was introduced in 2025. 

For now, if you’d like a piece of currency memorializing the famous Underground Railroad conductor, Tubman’s portrait appears on commemorative coins the U.S. Mint struck in 2024 to honor the bicentennial of her birth.