Of Course Trump Wants a $250 Bill With His Own Face on It

Trump political appointees at the Treasury Department have pressed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait. The effort reportedly included sending mock-up designs and dismissing concerns about legal and procedural obstacles and the long timeline required for producing a new high-value note. The former bureau director said the bureau was not authorized to do it and could not progress further. Federal law has long prohibited living people from appearing on U.S. currency, and the bureau lacks permission to produce $250 bills, which require congressional authorization. The reported campaign has been ongoing since last year.

"A pair of Trump political appointees at the Treasury Department - U.S. treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown - have, since last year, been pressing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing "to design a $250 bill featuring the president's portrait," according to numerous people familiar with the matter. That campaign has reportedly involved sending agency staff "mock-up designs for the note" and dismissing concerns raised by staff about the "legal and procedural obstacles" for putting it into circulation, not to mention the much longer timeline that would be necessary for doing so."

"Patricia "Patty" Solimene, the former director of the Printing Bureau, told Beach and Brown that the group is "not authorized to do this" and that it could not "progress any further," noting that "currency often takes six to eight years to produce a new bill, particularly one of such high value." Among other things, federal law does not allow living people to appear on bills and hasn't for the last 150 years."

"There's also the minor matter of the bureau not having permission to produce $250 bills, which must be authorized by Congress. (Last year, Representative Joe Wilson introd"

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