White House pushes Congress to approve $250 bill with Trump’s image | Donald Trump
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the White House was pressuring Congress to approve a $250 bill bearing Donald Trump’s portrait; He said this would require changing a long-standing federal law that prohibits any living person from appearing on U.S. currency.
Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Bessent said that the bill will be prepared to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence and that the treasury has already started to prepare for the possibility of a new currency.
“As Treasury secretary, I now have two mandates for the U.S. currency: no living person can be on the U.S. currency, and the currency must say ‘In God we trust,'” Bessent said. “So there is a bill now before the House of Representatives, before the Senate, that would change the initial requirement for a living person (Donald J Trump) to appear on the $250 bill.”
Washington Post It reported that two of Trump’s political appointees at the Treasury pushed staff to prepare prototypes of a $250 bill featuring Trump’s image, raising concerns that it would violate federal law.
But Bessent said the treasury would “stick to the law” and that “it’s all up to Capitol Hill.”
The artist responsible for the prototypes is a Briton named Iain Alexander, who describes himself online as a royal portrait artist, sculptor and a former Olympic team swimmer, according to the Post.
Bessent defended the new currency when asked by a reporter whether it was a good idea to put Trump’s face on the $250 bill at a time when many Americans are struggling to afford daily basic needs. Bessent said there was nothing “wrong” with the 250th-anniversary leader being included in the bill.
The legislation would need a simple majority in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, but is unlikely to get the required 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, immediately mocked the proposal, writing to X that it was a “definite no to Trump’s $250 bill.”
“Get a grip,” Jeffries wrote. “The upcoming Fourth of July anniversary isn’t about the King wannabe. It’s about celebrating America’s journey.”
According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s website, Congress voted in 1866 to ban the image of any living person on bank notes, bonds or securities, soon after the nation’s comptroller of the currency involved in a sex scandal appeared on the five-cent bill.
Responding to questions about the US-Israeli war in Iran, Bessent said that he predicted that gas and oil prices would “fall very quickly” after the conflict ends.
He also said he believes the Fed’s new chairman, Kevin Warsh, will “do the right thing” to balance inflation and growth at their first meeting on Thursday morning.
“We now have a Warsh Fed,” he said. “It’s a new day at the Fed.”
