Iowa Lawmaker Wants to Keep Harriet Tubman Off $20 Bill

— -- Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King wants to keep President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, despite efforts from the Obama administration to put a woman on it.

King has introduced an amendment to a spending bill that would prevent the Treasury from redesigning currency — and as a result keep the abolitionist Harriet Tubman off the currency.

“This was a divisive proposal on the part of the president,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “Mine is unifying. It just says, don’t change anything. We were happy.”

King said President Barack Obama has divided Americans “down the lines of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation” and “pitted us against each other.”

“This is about unifying. I never had anybody come to me and say, ‘I really got tired of looking at Jackson on my $20, and I want somebody else,’” he argued.

King also suggested the redesign was a waste of money.

The Treasury Department announced earlier this year that Tubman would replace Jackson on the $20 bill. The new design is set to be unveiled by 2020.

There was a plan to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, but that was set aside.