2020 Democrat: Harriet Tubman will be on $20 ‘within the first year of my presidency’

Presidential hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said Harriet Tubman would appear on the $20 bill within the first year of his presidency amid frustration over the plan’s delay under the Trump administration. 

“#HarrietTubman will be on the $20 bill within the first year of my presidency,” Ryan tweeted.

#HarrietTubman will be on the $20 bill within the first year of my presidency. https://t.co/MsexR6P75L

— Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) June 14, 2019

The vow came after a design for a $20 bill featuring the abolitionist was leaked Friday. The design was reportedly completed in 2016, but the Treasury Department pushed back a scheduled 2020 release.

{mosads}”The primary reason we’ve looked at redesigning the currency is for counterfeiting issues,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in May. “Based upon this, the $20 bill will now not come out until 2028. The $10 and the $50 will come out with new features beforehand.”

The delay was interpreted by some as an effort by Mnuchin to appease President Trump, who has repeatedly praised President Andrew Jackson, who currently appears on the $20 bill. Trump has suggested Tubman can instead be placed on the $2 bill.

“Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it’s very rough when you take somebody off the bill,” Trump said in 2016.

Jackson’s reputation has recently faced renewed scrutiny over his treatment of indigenous people, including his signing of The Indian Removal Act in 1830, which gave the White House the power to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River in exchange for Native American lands within existing state borders. The legislation was widely opposed among native tribes, and many were eventually forced from their homes.