First in The Vault: Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), are introducing a bill today that would prohibit the U.S. Treasury and Mint from producing a coin bearing the likeness of President Donald Trump.
The legislation, called the Change Corruption Act, would prevent federal authorities from minting U.S. currency that features “the likeness of a living or sitting president.”
The bill is very much aimed at the White House. The U.S. Mint’s webpage detailing possible designs for a semiquincentennial coin features Trump’s face prominently.
The bill runs just one single page. Fellow co-sponsors include Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Lawfully specific. There are a lot of laws on the books that limit who and what can be displayed on U.S. currency. Blocking the visage of sitting presidents, as well as alive former presidents, has been a particular focus for legislators over the years.
But that language is mostly relegated to currency that’s already been minted. The law authorizing the semiquincentennial coin series, signed by Trump in early 2021, only limited the depiction of living people “on the reverse of any coin” in the series. Enter Trump coin.
In a statement, Merkley said: “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.”
In trade news: The Ways and Means Committee will take up bills on Wednesday extending trade programs for sub-Saharan African countries and Haiti, a notable sign of momentum for efforts to revive them.
AGOA and Haiti HOPE/HELP both expired Sept. 30, but there’s bipartisan interest in extending them if a legislative vehicle is available in January.
Ways and Means will mark up the trade extensions along with seven other bills on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
