Ohio Democrat Joyce Beatty battles to get Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill
Rep. Joyce Beatty said she'll hold a press conference every week if that's what it takes to get Harriet Tubman's picture on the $20 bill.
Beatty, a Jefferson Township Democrat, is furious that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin plans to delay the planned release of a new $20 bill featuring the famed abolitionist from its initial planned launch in 2020. The release was aimed at corresponding with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
Mnuchin announced the delay of the release of the bill during a May hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, of which Beatty is a member. During that hearing, Mnuchin said he was focused on "counterfeiting issues," and said while a new redesign dealing with counterfeiting will come out in 2020, "the imagery issue will not come up until most likely 2026." He said he had "made no decision" as to whether Tubman will be on the bill.
His predecessor, Jack Lew, announced in June 2015 that a woman would be put on the $10 bill, but in April 2016 announced that Tubman would be on the $20. Beatty introduced a bill in April 2015 proposing that a woman be put on the $20.
Beatty announced Wednesday at a Capitol Hill press conference that she was reintroducing her 2015 legislation in an attempt to force the issue.
She was joined by fellow Democrats who also decried the delay.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-California, said 48 countries currently feature images of women on their currency. The countries include Nigeria, Serbia and Venezuela.
"The fact that it's 2019 and we still don't have woman on our currency in the United States of America is an embarrassment," she said.
"This to me is a slap in the face," said Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Michigan.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said it seems odd that President Donald Trump wants to put men on Mars but refuses to do something as simple as put the image of a woman on currency.
"If we can send people to Mars, we can certainly get Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill," he said.
Beatty, meanwhile, said Mnuchin's decision to hold off on putting Tubman on the $20 "is extremely disturbing to me."
Tubman, she said, "embodies everything that makes up the American spirit — even before America recognized her as a free person."
This article was originally published on June 19, 2019 by the Columbus Dispatch.