The United States Treasury Department has prepared a design for a $250 banknote featuring President Donald Trump’s portrait, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirming on Thursday that the department is ready to print the note if Congress changes existing law.
Federal law currently prohibits the likeness of any living person from appearing on US currency. The restriction has been in place since 1866, when the last living individual appeared on an American banknote. Any change would require an act of Congress.
Speaking at a White House briefing on May 28, Bessent said the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) had already conducted design work in anticipation of pending legislation. “We will stick to the law,” he said, while adding that he saw nothing wrong with the idea of the sitting president appearing on a commemorative denomination tied to the country’s 250th anniversary.
The legislation underpinning the proposal was introduced in February 2025 by Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina. A separate bill with similar provisions has also been put forward in the Senate. Neither piece of legislation has yet advanced through either chamber. A BEP spokesperson confirmed in a statement to the Associated Press that the agency is conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” in response to the active legislative proposals.
The Washington Post reported that two Trump political appointees at the Treasury Department had been urging the BEP to create the prototype note, including commissioning a mock-up of the president’s likeness. A design obtained by the Post showed the text “America 250 Anniversary,” a reference to the United States marking 250 years since its declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. Bessent acknowledged the Post’s reporting but characterised the work as standard preparation rather than lobbying for the legislation.
If Congress passes the required change and the bill goes to print, Trump would become the first living person to appear on US currency in 160 years. The president has already broken precedent in another area of monetary design: the Treasury announced earlier in 2026 that Trump’s signature, rather than the signatures of the Treasury Secretary and the Treasurer, would appear on all newly printed currency.
The proposal has attracted criticism from lawmakers and constitutional scholars who argue that using government currency to promote a sitting president blurs the line between the office and the individual. The initiative also comes as the administration has placed Trump’s portrait on banners hung across federal buildings in Washington, including the Department of Justice.
