Overview
- Treasury confirmed on May 28 that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has prepared mock-up designs and is conducting planning and due diligence in case Congress authorizes a $250 commemorative note.
- A federal statute from 1866 prohibits living people from appearing on U.S. currency, so lawmakers would have to pass a specific change such as Rep. Joe Wilson’s stalled bill to allow a Trump portrait.
- BEP staff and currency experts warned the project would require years of security testing, ATM and cash‑handling compatibility checks, and multiple federal approvals, and the bureau’s director Patricia Solimene was reassigned after raising procedural objections.
- The circulated prototypes show Trump’s portrait flanked by his and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s signatures and were produced after pressure from political appointees including Treasurer Brandon Beach and artist Iain Alexander said Mr. Trump suggested design changes; Treasury says no official production has begun.
- The $250 proposal joins other semiquincentennial initiatives such as commemorative coins and signature changes and could prompt legal challenges and a partisan fight in Congress if lawmakers try to move the measure forward.