The Treasury Department has prepared the design of a $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump’s portrait and is waiting on Congress to overturn a 160-year-old law that bars any living person from appearing on US currency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House, Bessent held up a sample of the proposed note, framing the design as a commemorative tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He told reporters the department had moved forward with preparations so that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing would not be caught flat-footed if Congress acts.

“It’s all in the hands of Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We prepared things in advance, but we will stick to the law.”

Federal statute since 1866 has restricted US currency and securities to portraits of deceased individuals. The rule, enacted by Congress after a Treasury official briefly placed his own likeness on a five-cent note, was designed to prevent the kind of personal aggrandizement on national currency associated with monarchies. No living person has appeared on American money since.

Legislation that would carve out an exception for Trump was introduced in February 2025 by Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, who titled his proposal the Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act. The bill would amend the Federal Reserve Act to require the Treasury secretary to print $250 notes bearing Trump’s portrait. It has not advanced.

The Treasury announcement followed a Washington Post report Thursday morning that two Trump political appointees, including US Treasurer Brandon Beach, had been pressing Bureau of Engraving and Printing staff since August to develop mockups of a Trump bill. Bessent held up a printout of the Post story during his briefing and confirmed the broader account while disputing some specifics.

A Treasury spokeswoman said the bureau had carried out “appropriate planning and due diligence” in anticipation of a possible congressional mandate. She added that no taxpayer dollars had been spent on the work because the bureau is self-funded through product sales rather than congressional appropriations. The agency also said any leaked mockups circulating publicly “are not real.”

If the law is changed and the bill is printed, Trump would become the first living person to appear on US currency since 1866.
A British artist, Iain Alexander, who designed the mock-up circulated inside Treasury, told the Post that Trump “absolutely loved it” when shown the rendering.

The $250 push is the latest in a series of moves placing Trump’s name or image on government-issued materials in time for the semiquincentennial. The Treasury announced in March that Trump’s signature would appear on all newly printed currency. Treasury officials have also discussed minting gold coins bearing his likeness. The State Department this month said it would issue special edition passports featuring Trump’s portrait and signature for the anniversary year.

Practical obstacles remain even if Congress moves. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says new currency designs typically take years to develop and are released publicly only six to eight months before circulation, in part to frustrate counterfeiters. The United States has not printed denominations larger than $100 for general circulation since 1969, when the Federal Reserve discontinued $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 notes due to low public demand.

The Treasury did not say when, or whether, a Trump $250 bill could realistically be issued in time for the July Fourth celebrations.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)