LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. Mint is going to make $1 coins with President Trump's face on them. But there are laws that prevent money from depicting living presidents. NPR's Rachel Treisman reports on the administration's workaround.
RACHEL TREISMAN, BYLINE: When Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a new $1 collectible coin on Fox News on Tuesday, he said he only had two mandates.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SCOTT BESSENT: The currency has to say In God We Trust somewhere on it.
TREISMAN: That's engraved on the coin, according to photos he shared on Wednesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BESSENT: And there cannot be a image of a living person.
TREISMAN: That's also engraved on the coin, a close-up of President Trump's face. The Thayer Amendment from 1866 prohibits the use of any living person's likeness on U.S. currency. Here's Jeremy Paul, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law.
JEREMY PAUL: We don't want neutral symbols like our money to be partisan.
TREISMAN: Congress passed a law in 2020, authorizing a new coin for America's 250th birthday, with a design, quote, "emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial." And Bessent argues there's a precedent for featuring the president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BESSENT: During the 150th, there was a Calvin Coolidge coin, so we can put living people's images on a coin.
TREISMAN: But Paul is not convinced. He points to a 2005 law that says a coin can't honor a president until at least two years after their death.
PAUL: Whatever precedent there might be, the law has changed further in the direction of trying to depoliticize the currency.
TREISMAN: The Department of the Treasury says the coin doesn't violate any laws. It did not respond to NPR's questions about how much the collectible coins will cost or where revenue will go.
PAUL: Will the government make money off these coins? Yes, it will. That's the whole point.
TREISMAN: The coins will go on sale starting this fall.
Rachel Treisman, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.