- United States
- Alaska
- Letter
Vote no on HB1761, the so-called "Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act." This bill has nothing to do with monetary policy and everything to do with putting a living, politically active former President on American currency for the first time in modern history. That's not commemoration — it's a vanity project funded by taxpayers.
The practical damage is real. Banks, ATMs, vending machines, and point-of-sale systems nationwide would need costly infrastructure upgrades to handle a denomination nobody asked for and the economy doesn't need. The bill provides zero funding and zero cost estimates. The one-year printing deadline is also wildly unrealistic — introducing a new denomination typically takes years of design, security feature development, and anti-counterfeiting work.
The legal foundation is just as shaky. This bill overturns a prohibition on living persons appearing on U.S. currency that has stood since 1866 — a rule rooted in democratic tradition specifically designed to prevent exactly this kind of political self-dealing. Kill this bill.