A group of Senate Democrats have put forward legislation that would prevent the government from minting coins featuring the likeness of President Donald Trump.
The bill, called the Change Corruption Act, was introduced by senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada Tuesday, Punchbowl News reported. Co-sponsors include lawmakers, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ron Wyden of Oregon.
“No United States currency may feature the likeness of a living or sitting President,” the bill states.
Merkley compared Trump to global autocrats for his attempt to get his face on a coin.
“President Trump’s self-celebrating maneuvers are authoritarian actions worthy of dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, not the United States of America,” the Oregon senator told Punchbowl News.
However, given the GOP majority in both chambers of Congress and Trump’s firm control over his party, the bill faces a slim chance of becoming law.
In October, the U.S. Mint announced plans to create commemorative $1 coins bearing Trump’s likeness in honor of America’s 250th anniversary next year. The Mint’s website lists three designs, two of which include headshots of Trump, while a third has his side profile. All have the phrases “IN GOD WE TRUST” and “1776 ~ 2026”.
An earlier draft of the coin, circulated by U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, bore an image of Trump following the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the design, Trump’s fist is raised in the air, and the phrase “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT” is wrapped around the edge.
There are already U.S. laws which seem to prevent living presidents from appearing on American currency.
Title 31 of the U.S. Code states: “Only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities.” The Thayer Amendment, passed in 1866, also prohibits living individuals from appearing on U.S. currency, according to ABC News.
However, the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, signed into law by Trump in 2021, only banned living people from being featured “on the reverse of any coin” in the commemorative series.
If the proposed coin is minted, it wouldn’t be the first time a sitting American president has had his face on American currency.
In 1926, a half-dollar coin was manufactured bearing the profile of President Calvin Coolidge in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence being signed.
“This coin marked the first time a U.S. President’s portrait appeared on a coin during his lifetime,” according to the U.S. Mint.
