Civic Register
| 6.25.19

Treasury Launches Investigation Into Delay of Harriet Tubman $20 Bill

Should the Treasury put Tubman on the $20 bill?

What’s the story?

  • The Treasury Department inspector general’s office has agreed to conduct an investigation into the reasons for delaying placing Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
  • In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar explained the inquiry will be folded into a larger audit that was about to kick off.
  • "As part of this work, we will interview the stakeholders involved in the new note design process," Delmar wrote. He said the investigation would take about 10 months.
“If, in the course of our audit work, we discover indications of employee misconduct or other matters that warrant a referral to our Office of Investigations, we will do so expeditiously,” Delmar added. 
  • Last month, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the former slave and abolitionist will not appear on the $20 until President Donald Trump leaves office.

What’s the backstory?

  • Schumer had asked the internal watchdog to look into the Treasury’s decision to delay the redesign, "including any involvement by the White House." In his original letter, he noted that "during his campaign, President Trump referred to efforts to replace President Jackson’s likeness on the front of the $20 note as 'pure political correctness.'”
“Secretary Mnuchin attempted to explain the delay as necessary to accommodate anti-counterfeiting measures," Schumer added, "but it is simply not credible that with all the resources and expertise of the U.S. Treasury and Secret Service, a decade or more could be required to produce a new $20 bill.”

What are your thoughts?

Should the Treasury commit to putting Tubman on the $20 bill? Or was the plan to remove Jackson a case of "pure political correctness"? Is there some other compromise you’d like to see? Take action above and tell your reps, then comment below.

—Josh Herman

(Illustration by Lily Chen)