U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa wants to prevent abolitionist Harriet Tubman from replacing President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, but his effort has been blocked.
The Iowa Republican filed an amendment to a funding bill that would prohibit the planned redesign,
Politico reported. The Rules Committee denied a vote on the proposal, however.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced plans in April to redesign the $20 billion with Harriet Tubman on the front and Andrew Jackson on the back, along with changes to the $10 bill and $5 bill to reflect past civil rights movements. The redesigned currency is expected to be unveiled in 2020.
King called the redesign "racist" and "sexist,"
The Des Moines Register reported.
"Here's what's really happening, this is liberal activism on the part of the president, that's trying to identify people by categories and he's divided us on the lines of groups. … This is a divisive proposal on the part of the president and mine's unifying. It says just don't change anything," King said.
King's Democratic opponent Kim Weaver called King's proposal a "meaningless and mean-spirited gesture" with no chance of passing, the Register reported.
“Iowans have four representatives in the United States House of Representatives, and unfortunately one of them seems to maintain a laser focus on where his next headline-grabbing piece of stunt legislation will come from," Weaver said. “What will this amendment do for residents of Iowa’s 4th District? Nothing. How will it make the lives of his constituents better? It won’t."
King rejected Weaver's criticism.
"Why does this come up now when we’ve got a country to run?" he said,
according to the Omaha World-Herald. "It’s because President Obama is on his way out the door and you’re going to watch — he’s going to do everything he can think of to upset this society and this civilization and he’ll pit more people against each other and get more people to think of themselves as members of a group. I’m one of God’s children. So was Harriet, so was Jackson. There’s no reason to make the change."
King drew even more criticism on Twitter.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.