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White House Recommits To Getting Harriet Tubman On $20 Bill After Trump Delay

BALTIMORE (CNN/WJZ) -- The Biden administration says it is "exploring ways to speed up" release of $20 bills featuring Harriet Tubman after the Trump administration delayed the move first initiated by President Barack Obama.

Tubman, who was born a slave on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, helped dozens of enslaved people get to freedom with the Underground Railroad.

"It's important that our notes, our money -- if people don't know what a note is -- reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman's image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.

Psaki referred specific questions the timeline of the new design to the Treasury Department. CNN has reached out to Treasury for comment.

RELATED: WJZ Coverage on Harriet Tubman $20 Bill

In a 2018 interview at the Economic Club of Washington, Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dodged when asked about progress with regard to the new bill, saying, "We haven't made any decisions as to whether we'll change the bill, or won't change the bill."

Mnuchin later said the bill wouldn't be unveiled until 2028 because of "technical issues." But The New York Times reported in 2019 that in fact the "basic design already on paper most likely could have satisfied the goal of unveiling" the redesigned note by 2020. The paper said it obtained an image of the new note from a former department official, which "depicts Tubman in a dark coat with a wide collar and a white scarf."

According to the paper, the design "was completed in late 2016."

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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