Two Democratic senators want to make sure a coin featuring President Donald Trump does not see the light of day.
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced legislation Tuesday morning to ensure that no current or former living President can appear on U.S. currency, per The Hill.
This could prevent the U.S. Treasury’s plan to release a commemorative $1 coin featuring Trump.
“No United States currency may feature the likeness of a living or sitting President,” the bill, called the Change Corruption Act, reads.
The bill is cosponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
The bill’s authors state there is no precedent of featuring a living or sitting president on a circulating coin.
“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,” Merkely said in a statement.
“We must reject his efforts to dismantle our ‘We, The People’ republic and replace it with a strongman state by demanding strong accountability to prevent further abuse of taxpayer dollars,” he added.
A decision by the U.S. Mint may come as early as this week.
The Trump coin release would coincide with the nation’s 250th birthday.
A draft of the Trump coin circulated shows Trump’s profile superimposed over the word “Liberty.”
Cortez Masto added that this has no place in America.
“While monarchs put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king,” she said.
“Our legislation would codify this country’s long-standing tradition of not putting living presidents on American coins. Congress must pass it without delay,” she added.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is not likely to schedule a vote on the Senate floor in the near future.
