Here's Who Members of Congress Want to See on the New $10 Bill
Here's who lawmakers want to see on the redesigned bill.
— -- After the Treasury Department announced it would start printing new $10 bills with a woman on it, many members of Congress weighed in with recommendations.
Here’s a list of who they’ve suggested so far:
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): Frances Perkins
During a briefing with reporters, Pelosi said she would add Perkins, who served as President Franklin Roosevelt’s Labor Secretary and who, as the chairwoman of the 1934 President’s Committee on Economic Security, was instrumental in authoring the Social Security Act of 1935. “She certainly has affected many lives,” Pelosi said, although she added, “I’m a big fan of so many of the women who are being suggested and any one of them would be absolutely great.”
Sen. Shelley Moore-Capito (R-WV): Amelia Earhart
Spokeswoman Ashley Berrang said Moore-Capito’s support of Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean: “She sought to do the impossible. Her courage, keen sense of adventure and compassion should be a source of inspiration to us all, especially young women. She proved that the sky really is the limit.”
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD): Harriet Tubman
Cardin was the lead sponsor of legislation to establish the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, the first national park dedicated to a single woman.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT): Jeannette Rankin
Daines introduced legislation to require that former Montana Rep. Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress, be represented on the new $10 bill. “She is a true example of America’s rich legacy of service and I urge the Treasury to make her the first woman to serve as the face of our paper currency,” Daines said in a statement.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI): Patsy Mink
Mink was one of the principal authors of the Education Amendments of 1972, which became later known as “Title IX,” which prohibits sex discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. It was later renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. The first woman of color elected to Congress, Mink served twelve terms in the House of Representatives. “Patsy, like the other women who should be considered for the new $10 bill, had relentless determination and took risks to better our nation. It is long overdue for women and girls to be represented on something as fundamental to American life as our paper currency,” Hirono said in a statement, in which she also called Mink a “friend and inspiration."
Sen. John Hoeven (D-ND): Sakakawea
Hoeven supports the addition of Sakakawea, who served as a guide and impromptu diplomat during the expedition headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, for which Sakakawea’s husband, French-Canadian Pierre Charbonneau, served as an interpreter. She was born in an area that is now North Dakota.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ): Alice Paul
A New Jersey-born suffragist, Paul formed the National Women’s Party in 1916 and lead “Silent Sentinels,” protests outside the White House. In 1923 she authored the Equal Rights Amendment which required equality which “shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The amendment has yet to pass although it has come before every session of Congress, including the current one, since its introduction.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD): Harriet Tubman
"I’m so proud to count Harriet Tubman among Maryland’s many, many inspirational women,” Mikulski, a co-sponsor of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park legislation, said in a statement. “She showed courage, ingenuity, unselfishness, and incredible persistence in leading hundreds of men, women and children out of the bondage of slavery and into freedom. Seeing her face on the $10 bill will lend us all courage to face the challenges of today and hope for the future.”
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands): Wants Hamilton kept on $10 bill
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Plaskett argued, “Alexander Hamilton is an American deserving of being memorialized on our currency given his outsized influence on the founding of our nation and its monetary system.”
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE): Wants to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill
Sasse’s office says he is preparing legislation to replace Jackson. "Harriet Tubman is an American hero and deserves recognition on our currency… A broad movement of Americans have expressed their desire to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriott Tubman on the $20 bill. That is the right idea, not removing Hamilton from the $10 bill. Andrew Jackson was a vehement opponent of paper currency and a controversial president. Hamilton was the first Treasury Secretary and instrumental to the founding of our country,” Sasse said in a statement.
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA): Possibly one of 10 of these “Fascinating Pennsylvania Women”
A spokesman demurred when asked whether he had one favorite, but Toomey did write this Buzzfeed listicle last year, which includes reporter Nellie Bly, singer Marian Anderson, and impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.
Related Stories
ABC News Live