Nine Senate Democrats penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent requesting he nix the proposed “America 250” celebration coins that feature President Donald Trump‘s face.
The U.S. Mint announced this summer that it would be “making changes to most of our circulating coins” as part of a collectable celebration of the country’s semiquincentennial in 2026. The recently published proposed designs feature three options of a heads-facing side, each portraying Trump.
The obverse, or heads, side options say “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “1776-2026,” and show one of three portrait-style images of Trump. The Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), called on Bessent to reject all three proposals of Trump and instead “honor images and concepts foundational to American history.”
“Putting an image of President Trump on a circulating coin is not only inconsistent with congressional intent to honor 250 years of United States’ history, but also un-American. We should not depict a living, current president on U.S. currency,” the senators wrote in the letter dated Dec. 1.
The senators argued that the move would violate federal law, which prohibits sitting presidents from being depicted on minted coins, citing the Coinage Act of 1866.
“For centuries, minting sitting presidents on U.S. currency has been avoided to prevent the appearance that the U.S. is a monarchy or subject to a cult of personality,” they wrote. “While the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have featured images of former Queen Elizabeth II for decades, and now also feature King Charles III on their banknotes, the United States has never, and we should not now, mint circulating currency with images of currently elected officials.”
However, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has disputed the notion that a Trump coin would violate the 1866 law.
SCOTT BESSENT TO OVERSEE FINAL CIRCULATION OF PENNY
“In terms of reading through what is and isn’t available under that law, that there have been times in the past where commemorative coins have been printed with the faces of living people, and so I think that they’re on solid ground if they decide to do that,” Hassett said in October.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
