BRUNSWICK, ME – Today, U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) announced that he, along with several of his colleagues, has sent a letter to President Obama urging him to begin the process for putting a woman on the twenty dollar bill.

“We write today to urge you to begin the process for selecting a woman whose likeness will be placed on the $20 bill. We have introduced legislation, the Women on the Twenty Act, which would task the Treasury Secretary with appointing a new citizens panel to determine a woman whose likeness will be featured on a new $20 bill,” the senators wrote in their letter to the President yesterday. “…We recognize that it is fully within the Administration’s powers to convene such a panel without Congressional direction and we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Establishing this panel would get this process underway and allow for appropriate public input, including from the recent online polling results.”

Senator King is a cosponsor of the Women on the Twenty Act, legislation that would direct the Secretary of the Treasury to convene a panel of citizens to recommend a woman whose likeness would be featured on a new twenty dollar bill.

The call for action follows a nationwide grassroots movement led by the group Women on 20s, which held an online poll that gathered over 600,000 votes, selecting Harriet Tubman as the top choice.

The letter was led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and signed by other supporters of the Women on the Twenty Act, which include Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.).

The full text of the letter is below and available HERE:

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Dear Mr. President:

As you know, a recent grassroots campaign has engaged hundreds of thousands of Americans behind a common mission: placing the likeness of a woman who has contributed to our nation’s history on our paper currency. Recently, the campaign concluded its online voting for potential candidates by choosing Harriet Tubman and has petitioned the White House to make this change. We write today to urge you to begin the process for selecting a woman whose likeness will be placed on the $20 bill.

Our paper currency is a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. The images on these bills symbolize important American values and explain part of our identity as a nation. Yet, for more than 200 years, our paper currency has been reserved exclusively for men who have shaped our history. That’s why the time has come to honor the contributions that women have made to our society, and reaffirm that women will be an important part of our future.

Although our paper currency has been redesigned several times to improve legibility and prevent counterfeiting, the portraits on the seven main bill denominations have not changed in nearly a century. Those portraits were chosen by a special Department of the Treasury-appointed panel of citizens in the late 1920s.  This year’s grassroots campaign has demonstrated that the time has come for a woman’s portrait to appear on the $20 bill.

We have introduced legislation, the Women on the Twenty Act, which would task the Treasury Secretary with appointing a new citizens panel to determine a woman whose likeness will be featured on a new $20 bill. Our legislation does not specify that any particular woman be chosen for this honor, but does request that the panel take into consideration the input of the American people.   

We recognize that it is fully within the Administration’s powers to convene such a panel without Congressional direction and we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Establishing this panel would get this process underway and allow for appropriate public input, including from the recent online polling results. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

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