Media: US plans to issue $250 banknote featuring Trump's portrait

The US Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is planning to issue a $250 banknote (US$1 = Rp17,789) featuring President Donald Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of the US, CNN reported on Thursday (28 May). A US Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed the plan to CNN, stating they are conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” in response to “applicable legislation.” Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina has proposed legislation to “symbolically recognise the US President during the 250th anniversary (Semiquincentennial),” according to CNN’s report, citing a press release from Wilson’s office. The Washington Post also reported on Thursday, citing four current and former BEP employees, that Trump administration officials had urged the agency responsible for printing US currency to design a $250 banknote featuring Trump’s portrait. If implemented, it would be the first time in over 150 years that a living person’s portrait appears on US currency. Since last year, two Treasury Department officials — US Treasurer Brandon Beach and senior advisor Mike Brown — have repeatedly urged BEP staff to prepare a prototype of the banknote, the Washington Post added. No living person’s portrait has appeared on US currency since 1866, when the practice was banned after a mid-level Treasury Department bureaucrat’s image was printed on a five-cent note. Legislation enabling Trump’s portrait on the $250 banknote was submitted to the US Congress last year to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, but the proposal has yet to be acted upon, according to the Washington Post report.