Hakeem Jeffries and Hillary Clinton tore into the Trump administration after a report claimed officials pushed for President Donald Trump’s face to appear on a new $250 bill tied to America’s 250th birthday.
The reported proposal instantly gave Democrats a new target, with Jeffries mocking the idea as a vanity project and Clinton using it to jab Trump over rising prices.
“Hard No on a Trump $250 bill,” Jeffries wrote on X. “Get over yourself.”
“The upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe King,” he added. “It’s about celebrating the American journey.”
The House Democratic leader kept going during a Thursday appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Julie Mason Show,” where he dismissed the reported bill as “Monopoly money.”
Hard No on a Trump $250 bill.
Get over yourself.
The upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe King.
It’s about celebrating the American journey.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 28, 2026
“It’s fantasy. And we are going to do everything possible to make sure that this never happens. I mean, this is the most ridiculous thing in the world,” Jeffries remarked.
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, took her own shot in a Thursday X post that tied the reported $250 denomination to the cost of everyday goods.
“By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs,” Clinton wrote.
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The uproar followed a Washington Post report that current and former employees said Trump administration officials had pushed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to create a $250 bill featuring Trump’s portrait.
The bureau is responsible for printing U.S. currency. According to the report, two Treasury Department political appointees began pressing employees last year to prepare prototypes.
One mock-up obtained by the Post reportedly showed Trump’s presidential portrait in the center, flanked by two signatures: Trump’s and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s.
By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs. pic.twitter.com/FRA3s7a6YS
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 28, 2026
Iain Alexander, a British painter who said he designed the mock-up, told the Post he had spoken with Trump about it.
Bessent confirmed during Thursday’s White House press briefing that Treasury employees had pushed staff at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare designs for the proposed bill.
“Yes, of course,” Bessent began. “But we prepare for everything if it gets passed, just like we were ready six months in advance for the One Big Beautiful Bill for tax guidance.”
“We have to prepare in advance,” he added. “You can’t draw something up the day before.”
The Treasury secretary also unloaded on the Post’s article from the briefing room, flipping through a printed copy as he questioned the premise of the story.
“I don’t really understand this Washington Post article, but who here is from the Post?” Bessent said.
After the reporter spoke up, Bessent responded, “Terribly written, terribly edited.”
“Because basically what it says is that Treasury is following the law, and that we’ve created the bill, and that it’s up to Congress … I didn’t really understand what the story was,” he continued.
The sticking point is federal law. Employees inside the department raised concerns because current law allows only deceased individuals to appear on U.S. currency, according to the Post.
Bessent acknowledged that limitation while explaining what Treasury can and cannot do.
Bessent said that as secretary, he has “two mandates” for currency: “At present, no living person can be on U.S. currency, and the currency must say ‘In God We Trust.’”
He said proposed legislation on Capitol Hill would “change the first requirement so that a living person, Donald J. Trump, could be on a $250 bill.”
“At Treasury we prepare things in advance, so we have prepared in advance that if the legislation is passed, but we will stick to the law,” Bessent said.
The Treasury Department previously announced in March that Trump’s signature would be added to paper currency to mark the country’s 250th birthday, a first for the country.
“There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Bessent said in a previous statement.
The currency fight also reportedly sparked internal friction at the printing bureau.
Former bureau director Patricia Solimene, a U.S. Army veteran, was reassigned by the Treasury Department in April after pushing back against pressure from U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown, who is now the bureau’s acting director, according to the Post.
During Thursday’s briefing, Bessent was pressed on whether putting Trump’s image on the bill was a smart plan while Americans are struggling with rising costs. “It’s bifurcated,” Bessent said.
“Do you think we should have a 250th anniversary celebration?” he questioned the reporter.
After the journalist replied that the celebration was already happening, Bessent disputed that framing.
“It’s happening because it’s being funded by private citizens, by the federal government, by state governments, by municipal governments to celebrate our country, and I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the president of the United States on the 250th anniversary bill,” he shot back
The briefing also moved into other economic concerns. Asked about the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, Bessent expressed confidence that energy markets would stabilize once the fighting subsides, saying he expects fuel costs to retreat rapidly when the conflict is over.
He also voiced optimism about newly installed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, saying after meeting with him Thursday morning that he expects the central bank’s new leader to make sound decisions on inflation and economic growth.
“We’ve got a Warsh Fed now,” Bessent remarked. “It’s a new day at the Fed.”
For Trump’s image to appear on the proposed bill, Congress would have to change the law.
Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, put forward legislation last year that would authorize the new denomination.
The proposal was sent to the House Financial Services Committee in February 2025 and has not advanced since then.
Before any such bill could become reality, lawmakers in both chambers of Congress would have to approve the measure and send it to the president’s desk for final approval.
A Treasury spokeswoman stated that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” and “is moving proactively” to produce the bill should legislation be signed into law.
