Mnuchin Says Putting Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill Not a Focus Right Now

Lauretta Brown | August 31, 2017 6:30 PM

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wouldn’t say Thursday if he will commit to his predecessor Jack Lew’s plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill in place of Andrew Jackson.

"Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment," Mnuchin told CNBC.

"The No. 1 issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting,” he added. “So the issues of what we change will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes. I've received classified briefings on that. And that's what I'm focused on for the most part."

"People have been on the bills for a long period of time,” he said. “And this is something we will consider. Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on."

President Trump is an admirer of Andrew Jackson and told the Today show last year that while he thought Harriet Tubman was “fantastic,” he would “love to leave Andrew Jackson and see if we can maybe come up with another denomination. Maybe we do the $2 bill or we do another bill."

"I don't like seeing it,” he said of the Obama-era decision to replace Jackson. “Yes, I think it's pure political correctness. Been on the bill [Jackson] for many, many years. And, you know, really represented somebody that really was very important to this country.”

Many on Twitter interpreted Mnuchin’s response as an indication that the Treasury Secretary may not put Harriet Tubman on currency.