--- title: Republicans Try to Amend Harriet Tubman Bill description: Rep. Steve King filed an amendment to a Treasury Department bill trying to prevent Harriet Tubman from appearing on the $20 bill. canonical: https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-22T15:10:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:46.948Z og:title: Iowa Rep: It's 'Racist' to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill og:description: 'This is liberal activism on the part of the president' og:url: https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf693b7b9dbdae876/698898ed3c1639dbe945dbe0/harriet-tubman-republicans-amendement-currency-money.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dollars og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Iowa Rep: It's 'Racist' to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill twitter:description: 'This is liberal activism on the part of the president' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf693b7b9dbdae876/698898ed3c1639dbe945dbe0/harriet-tubman-republicans-amendement-currency-money.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It's 'Sexist' and 'Racist' to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill, According to Iowa Congressman by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 22, 2016 3:10 PM UTC  dollars dollarsGetty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jun 22, 2016 3:10 PM UTC [Harriet Tubman](http://time.com/4301127/harriet-tubman-20-dollar-bill-alexander-hamilton-andrew-jackson/) posthumously made history when Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that the abolitionist would [replace Andrew Jackson](http://motto.time.com/4292262/money-twitter-harriet-tubman/) on the front of the $20 bill. Secretary Lew referred to her as “really one of the greater American stories.” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), however, disagrees about the currency redesign. [According to Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/house-could-vote-to-block-harriet-tubman-from-20-bill-224637#ixzz4CGSorpVK), King filed an amendment to a bill related to Treasury Department funding. The proposed amendment forbids any design changes to the currency, especially in terms of the $20 bill. King said, “It’s not about [Harriet Tubman](http://motto.time.com/4307618/samantha-bee-harriet-tubman/), it’s about keeping the picture on the $20,” as he pulled the bill from his pocket. Pointing to Andrew Jackson, he continued: “Why would you want to change that? I am a conservative, I like to keep what we have.” [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ King stated that it was “sexist” and racist” to try to diversify representation on American currency. He blames President Obama for that goal: “Here’s what’s really happening: This is liberal activism on the part of the president that’s trying to identify people by categories, and he’s divided us on the lines of groups. … This is a divisive proposal on the part of the president, and mine’s unifying. It says just don’t change anything.” Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump [also commented](http://time.com/4303332/donald-trump-says-harriet-tubman-on-the-20-bill-is-political-correctness/) on Tubman’s presence on the bill: “I don’t like seeing it. I think it’s pure political correctness.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/"},"headline":"It's 'Sexist' and 'Racist' to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill, According to Iowa Congressman","datePublished":"2016-06-22T15:10:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:46.948Z","description":"'This is liberal activism on the part of the president'","url":"https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/","keywords":["motto","Money","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf693b7b9dbdae876/698898ed3c1639dbe945dbe0/harriet-tubman-republicans-amendement-currency-money.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf693b7b9dbdae876/698898ed3c1639dbe945dbe0/harriet-tubman-republicans-amendement-currency-money.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dollars","caption":"Dollars","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4378022/harriet-tubman-republicans/","name":"It's 'Sexist' and 'Racist' to Put Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill, According to Iowa Congressman"}}]}] ```