What Happened to Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill?

The initiative to feature Harriet Tubman on the front of the U.S. $20 bill began with a grassroots campaign called "Women on 20s" in 2015, which sought to replace Andrew Jackson with a prominent American woman by 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment. Harriet Tubman, the iconic abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad, emerged as the overwhelming choice in a national poll.

On April 20, 2016, then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew officially announced that Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the redesigned $20 bill, with Jackson moving to the reverse side. The new bill was initially expected to enter circulation by 2020.

However, the plan encountered significant political opposition during the Trump administration. Then-candidate Donald Trump criticized the move as "pure political correctness" and suggested Tubman be placed on the less circulated $2 bill instead. In May 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that the redesign of the $20 bill would be delayed until at least 2026, with the new bills not expected to be issued until 2028 or even 2030. Mnuchin cited the need to prioritize new security features for other denominations, particularly the $10 and $50 bills, as the reason for the delay. Critics, including members of Congress, viewed this as a politically motivated postponement.

Upon taking office in January 2021, the Biden administration signaled a renewed commitment to the Tubman $20 bill. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated that the Treasury Department was taking steps to resume efforts and explore ways to speed up the process. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen later confirmed in March 2022 that the Tubman $20 bill was still on track for a 2030 release, explaining that the extensive process of designing new currency to incorporate advanced anti-counterfeiting measures typically takes a decade. This 2030 timeline was consistent with a schedule established in 2013 by the Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence Steering Committee.

CURRENT STATUS as of 2026-07-08: The plan has been definitively abandoned. On July 7, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, serving under the current Trump administration, informed Spectrum News that the Treasury Department is "not at present" planning to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Bessent did not provide further elaboration on the decision to halt the plan. This announcement comes amidst reports that the Treasury Department is preparing for a potential new $250 bill featuring Donald Trump's image, which would require congressional approval. The latest development marks a complete reversal of the previous administrations' commitments and effectively shelves the decade-long effort to honor Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.