\n<\/p>\n
The White House is pushing Congress to approve a $250 bill bearing Donald Trump\u2019s portrait, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said, which would require changing longstanding federal law that prohibits any living person from appearing on US currency.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the White House at a news conference, Bessent said the bill would be in celebration of the country\u2019s 250th anniversary of independence, and that the treasury has already started preparing for the possibility of the new currency.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs treasury secretary, I have two mandates for US currency at present: that no living person can be on US currency, and the currency must say \u2018In God we trust\u2019,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cSo, right now, there is proposed legislation in front of the House, in front of the Senate, to change the first requirement, so that a living person \u2013 Donald J Trump \u2013 could be on the $250 bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Washington Post reported that two of Trump\u2019s political appointees at the treasury had pushed staff to start preparing prototypes of a $250 bill with Trump\u2019s image, raising concerns that doing so would breach federal law.<\/p>\n
But Bessent said the treasury would \u201cstick to the law\u201d and that \u201cit\u2019s all up to Capitol Hill\u201d.<\/p>\n
The artist responsible for the prototypes is a Briton named Iain Alexander, who described himself online as a royal portrait artist, sculptor and a former Olympic squad swimmer, according to the Post.<\/p>\n
Bessent defended the new currency when asked by a reporter whether it was a good idea to put Trump\u2019s face on a $250 bill as many Americans struggle to afford everyday essentials. Bessent said there was nothing \u201cuntoward\u201d about having the leader who was president during the 250th anniversary featured on a bill.<\/p>\n
The legislation would need a simple majority in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives but would be unlikely to garner the 60 votes necessary in the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats.<\/p>\n
Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat, immediately derided the proposal, writing on X that it was a \u201chard no on a Trump $250 bill\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet over yourself,\u201d Jeffries wrote. \u201cThe upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe King. It\u2019s about celebrating the American journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congress voted in 1866 to prohibit the image of any living person on currency notes, bonds or securities, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing\u2019s website, soon after the country\u2019s currency superintendent, who was implicated in a sex scandal, appeared on the five-cent note.<\/p>\n
In response to questions about the US-Israel war in Iran, Bessent said he predicted that gas and oil prices would \u201ccome down very quickly\u201d after the conflict ends.<\/p>\n
He also said he believed that the new chair of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, would \u201cdo the right thing\u201d to balance inflation and growth based on their first meeting on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a Warsh Fed now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new day at the Fed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The White House is pushing Congress to approve a $250 bill bearing Donald Trump\u2019s portrait, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said, which would require changing longstanding federal law that prohibits any living person from appearing on US currency. Speaking from the White House at a news conference, Bessent said the bill would be in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[5750,142,4579,964,671,8215,2309,81,71,2168],"class_list":{"0":"post-49853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-approve","9":"tag-bill","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-donald","12":"tag-house","13":"tag-image","14":"tag-pushes","15":"tag-trump","16":"tag-trumps","17":"tag-white"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}