Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Nevada’s U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto led seven Senate Democrats—including Senator Ron Wyden—in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling on him to reject the proposed designs for the Semiquincentennial dollar coin featuring the likeness of President Donald Trump.
“American lawmakers throughout history have reaffirmed the time-honored tradition of not circulating U.S. currency with images of currently elected officials,” wrote the Senators. “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. 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.”
On November 18, the U.S. Mint published draft designs for the Semiquincentennial $1 Coin, which include three different portrait options placing President Trump on the front of the coin.
The Senators continue: “A portrait of President Trump is the only CCAC proposed design option for the semiquincentennial $1 coin, all but confirming the U.S. Mint intends to mint a circulating coin with a portrait of President Trump while he is in office. 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.”
In addition to Wyden, the letter was signed by Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
Merkley has continually pushed to end public corruption, including leading a bipartisan bill that would prevent lawmakers from trading stocks and legislation to crack down on cryptocurrency-related corruption by elected officials at the highest levels of the federal government. He and Wyden have also long championed efforts to crack down on dark money in politics.
Source: Senators Ron Wyden & Jeff Merkley