A GOP lawmaker introduced legislation Wednesday that would put former President Donald Trump’s portrait on the $500 bill.

Rep. Paul Gosar, Arizona Republican, authored the Treasury Reserve Unveiling Memorable Portrait (TRUMP) Act.

This legislation requires the Secretary of the United States Treasury to print $500 Federal Reserve notes featuring a portrait of Mr. Trump.

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“As Bidenflation continues to devalue our currency, the issuance of $500 bills featuring President Trump by the Treasury offers several practical advantages,” Mr. Gosar said.

Mr. Gosar said the larger-value currency will “empower Americans with the freedom of more tangible options to save and exchange goods and services.”

He also said that the absence of large-denomination currency issued by the Treasury urges Americans to depend on digital banking, “which faces greater vulnerability to surveillance and censorship.”

Mr. Gosar says his legislation, which is a long shot to come to fruition through a Democratic-led Senate and White House, will motivate many collectors to seek out these $500 Trump bills and help generate revenue for the government through increased demand for “numismatic items.”

“Collectors often covet currency with unique designs and historical significance and bills featuring the very popular 45th President will attract considerable attention from collectors,” he said.

This is not the first time in recent years that the federal government wanted to put a new famous face on American money.

In January 2021, the Biden administration’s Treasury Department looked for ways to advance the process of replacing Andrew Jackson’s portrait on the $20 bill with the portrait of slave abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
The Tubman $20 currency project was an Obama-era initiative that the Trump administration allowed to lapse.

Mr. Trump opposed changing the currency’s imagery, and his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, stopped work on it.

Mr. Mnuchin told The New York Times that new security features and imagery would be added to the money and put it into circulation in 2028, and a future Treasury secretary would decide whether to replace Jackson.

Congress, however, passed legislation, introduced in 2020, and later signed by President Biden in 2022, for the U.S. Mint to release three commemorative coins featuring Tubman. The mint released the coins at the beginning of this year.