The Treasury Department is preparing to print $250 bills with President Donald Trump’s face on them and is just waiting for Congress’ green light, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday.
Bessent said that as secretary, he has “two mandates” for currency: “At present, no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must say ‘In God We Trust.’”
Bessent added there is proposed legislation on Capitol Hill to “change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on a $250 bill.”
“At Treasury we prepare things in advance, so we have prepared in advance that if the legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law,” Bessent said while leading Thursday’s White House press briefing.
The Washington Post was first to report on the plans to put Trump’s likeness on a $250 banknote.
Bessent compared adding Trump’s face to the currency to the upcoming festivities for the country’s 250th anniversary and said the issue “bifurcated” from the growing affordability crisis as Americans struggle to buy gas and groceries.
“I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States, the person who was president of the United States on the 250th anniversary bill,” Bessent told reporters during the briefing.
The proposed legislation, introduced last year by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., was referred in February 2025 to the House Financial Services Committee, where it has remained since. Legislation would have to be approved by the House and Senate before it could be signed into law by Trump.
David Snider, a spokesperson for Wilson, said in an email that the congressman has spoken multiple times with Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., about moving the legislation forward. Snider added that Wilson had spoken with Bessent and Trump about their support on the bill “on multiple occasions.”
A GOP committee aide said Thursday night that the bill had been greenlit for a committee hearing at a future date, and that “we’re talking with our members and senators about the idea.”
A Treasury spokeswoman confirmed that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” and “is moving proactively” to produce the bill should legislation be signed into law.
Should the banknotes be produced, it would not be the only way Trump’s presidency would be immortalized on paper currency. In March, the Treasury said it would include Trump’s signature on paper currency — another first for a sitting president. At the time, the Treasury said that move was also being made in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary.
But the buck would not stop there.
A federal commission of Trump-appointed members approved a design that would include Trump’s image on 24-karat commemorative gold coins, also in honor of the 250th anniversary. That design still requires official approval from the Treasury.
Outside the currency, Trump and his allies have gone through several efforts to leave Trump’s mark on the federal government in ways other presidents have not. Trump has affixed his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He’s also added it to discount drug programs, savings accounts and proposed warships.
The Florida Legislature recently voted to rename Palm Beach International Airport after Trump. And the president has also added his face to banners at the Justice Department and the Department of Labor.
