Is Harriet Tubman's Spot on $20 Bill in Danger?

Treasury secretary seems to imply it may not be happening
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 31, 2017 6:18 PM CDT
Treasury Secretary on Tubman $20 Bill: We'll See
In this May 25, 2017 photo, a bust of Harriet Tubman stands in the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, a stop on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, in Church Creek, Md.    (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Harriet Tubman's spot on the $20 bill may be in danger. The Treasury secretary under President Obama announced that slave-owning Andrew Jackson, the current occupant of the bill, would be replaced with Tubman by 2020 (though Jackson would remain on the back of the bill). But asked about the plan Thursday on CNBC, Steve Mnuchin, President Trump's Treasury secretary, implied it's far from a sure thing. "Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment," he said. "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."

Trump himself, while acknowledging Tubman is "fantastic," has also said he admires Jackson and doesn't want to remove him from the $20 bill. He has mentioned possibly putting Tubman on the $2 bill or a new bill entirely. Mnuchin's comments Thursday were derided by critics including Chelsea Clinton, and the Baltimore Sun reports Democrats are publicly urging Trump to stick with the Tubman plan. The Hill reports former West Wing star Josh Malina is encouraging a sort of write-in campaign for Tubman, urging fans to write her name on their $20 bills. (More Harriet Tubman stories.)

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