US President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to print a new $250 bill that could feature a portrait of him, if lawmakers allow the move.
Federal law bars printing US money with the image of a living person, but Trump allies in Congress have introduced legislation that would make an exception.
A Treasury Department spokesperson told the BBC the agency “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” in response to the legislation.
The lawmakers behind it said the bill amount would symbolise the country’s 250th anniversary this year. If approved, it will be the latest example by Trump and his allies to put his face, name, and likeness on national institutions and symbols.
Artistic concepts of the $250 bill have not been publicly released but designs have been requested by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), a sub-agency of the Treasury that develops and produces US currency. The Washington Post first reported the Treasury Department’s plans.
“Should this legislative mandate be signed into law, the BEP is moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation,” the Treasury spokesperson said in a statement.
Trump’s signature is already set to appear on US paper notes as part of the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations.
The new legislation was introduced last year by US House Representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina. It would need approval from both the US House and Senate.
When asked about a possible new bill during a White House briefing on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said “it’s all in the hands” “of Congress and that, while his department was preparing in case the legislation passes, the Treasury would follow the law.
The move to create the $250 note could also break with a different federal law that specifies the denominations that can be produced. That law doesn’t include $250.
US Senator Mark Warner, who sits on the Senate’s Committee on Banking, criticised the plans.
“As Americans struggle with the rising cost of gas, groceries, housing, and health care, President Trump’s priorities for taxpayer dollars are completely detached from the challenges families face every day,” Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement.
“If this White House put even half as much energy into working to lower costs as it does into stoking the president’s ego, American families wouldn’t need that new $250 bill just to fill up their gas tanks.”
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