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| The proposed bill |
Story By Time Magazine
The “two mandates for U.S. currency, at present,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, are that “no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must say ‘In God We Trust.’”
But that first mandate may soon be done away with in order to make way for President Donald Trump to appear on a commemorative $250 bill. That would require a change in law, which the Republican-led Congress is reportedly considering ahead of the U.S. Semi quincentennial on July 4, 2026.
Last year, Rep. Joe Wilson (R, S.C.) introduced the ‘Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act,’ which was referred to the House Financial Services Committee. If the legislation, which a GOP aide told NBC News has been green-lit for a committee hearing, ultimately passes into law, that would “change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on a $250 bill,” Bessent said at a White House press briefing, adding that the Treasury has begun making preparations for that possibility.
The Washington Post, which first reported the Treasury’s preparations, obtained a mock-up of the design for the bill, which appears to be based on one of Trump’s presidential portraits, in which he bears a glowering expression.
Rep. Andy Barr (R, Ky.) had previously proposed a similar design for a $250 bill, with the same portrait of Trump and his signature, as well as the colors of the American flag. Last month, the State Department announced commemorative limited edition passports that would feature the same portrait and signature.
Trump would be among just a handful of people to ever appear on U.S. currency while still alive. Others included former Treasury Secretaries before Congress banned the practice in the 19th century. The push to break from tradition has prompted criticism that the move appears to elevate Trump to the status of a monarch.
Others have raised concerns about what message the commemorative currency sends amid a growing affordability crisis that has been exacerbated by economic and energy shocks related to the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.
Bessent defended the Treasury’s preparations and said that commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence is “bifurcated” from broader economic concerns.
“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the President of the United States, the person who was President of the United States on the 250th anniversary bill,” Bessent told reporters.
The Trump Administration has planned a slate of other events for semi quincentennial celebrations, including a day-long prayer event earlier this month that aimed to “rededicate America as one nation under God.”
On Wednesday, the officially nonpartisan nonprofit organizing group Freedom 250 also announced an artist lineup for the celebrations. The announcement was met with backlash from several performers, some of whom have withdrawn over concerns that the event is “politically charged.”
Changing the law
The proposed bill would amend the Federal Reserve Act to allow for a living person to feature on currency “if the individual is or has been the President of the United States.”
Few people have appeared on U.S. currency while still alive, and most came before the establishment of norms around paper money, including the Thayer Amendment of 1866. The Amendment prohibited the depiction of Spencer M. Clark, the first superintendent of the National Currency Bureau in the 1860s, on a 5-cent fractional note.
The proposed legislation would “symbolically recognize the President of the United States during the Semi quincentennial anniversary,” Wilson’s office said in a February 2025 press release. “The most valuable bill for the most valuable President!”
The bill still faces several hurdles before its passage. It was referred to the House Financial Services Committee last February and has remained there since. A spokesperson for Wilson told NBC News that Wilson has spoken on multiple occasions with the Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill (R, Ark.) about moving the legislation forward.
If it is approved by the committee, it would then need to be approved by the House and the Senate before it can be signed into law by Trump.
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” and “moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note” in case the legislation becomes law, according to the Post.
TIME has reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
The banknote is not the Trump Administration’s only plan to leave Trump’s legacy on U.S. currency.
The President is also slated to appear on a number of coins, including a commemorative 24-karat gold coin and a $1 coin that will reportedly circulate as currency. In March, the design of the gold coin was unanimously approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump earlier this year.
Despite objections, including from some members of the federal advisory body Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, the Trump Administration has cited two statutes as legal basis for issuing the coins.
Section 5112 of Chapter 31 of the U.S. Code gives the Treasury Secretary discretion to prescribe, “from time to time,” the “specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations and inscriptions” of certain gold coins.
The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 also temporarily authorizes the Treasury Secretary to issue $1 coins “with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial” for the year 2026.
The Treasury also announced in March that it would feature Trump’s signature on paper currency, which would be a first for a sitting President. Treasurer Brandon Beach said at the time that the design was in honor of the country’s semiquincentennial.
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