Topline

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday the agency is taking steps to print President Donald Trump’s face on a new $250 bill—an unprecedented move that would require Congress to authorize an exception to U.S. law prohibiting a living person’s face from being printed on U.S. currency.

Bessent described the effort as a preparatory measure in case legislation that would allow Trump’s face to be printed on the bill passes Congress, downplaying a Washington Post report earlier in the day that the Treasury Department has put pressure on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to make mock-ups of the bill.

Bessent said, “I don’t really understand this Washington Post article . . . terribly written, terribly edited. Basically what it says is Treasury is following the law and that we’ve created the bill and that it’s up to Congress . . . I didn’t really understand what the story was.”

“We prepare for everything if it gets passed,” Bessent said.

There’s no sign Congress will take up such legislation any time soon—a bill was introduced in February last year by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., but it’s been stalled in committee since.

Federal law only allows people who have died to appear on currency, and any exception to the statute must be approved by Congress.

British painter Iain Alexander told The Washington Post he designed a mock-up for the note featuring Trump’s face in between his signature and Bessent’s, and that Trump was actively involved in the design.