Cortez Masto, Merkley LEAD Colleagues in Urging Secretary Bessent to Reject Proposed Dollar COIN Designs Featuring Donald Trump

Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) led seven Senate Democrats in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling on him to reject theproposed designsfor 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, theU.S. Mint publisheddraft designsfor 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.”
Read the full letterhere.Additional signatories include Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Cortez Masto has continually pushed to end public corruption, includingsupportinglegislation that would prevent lawmakers from trading stocks andlegislationto crack down on cryptocurrency-related corruption by elected officials at the highest levels of the federal government. Cortez Masto has long championedactions to crack downon dark money in politics. She has cosponsoredlegislationto require organizations spending money in federal elections to disclose their donors and help guard against hidden foreign influence in our democracy.
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