The Trump Administration Might Give Us a $250 Bill—With the President's Face On It

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Six months ago, the Treasury retired the penny as a wasteful relic. Now it's preparing a note with the president's face on it—and a much higher face value.

Trump administration officials have asked the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), the agency that designs U.S. currency, to produce prototypes of a $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump, according to a Washington Post story that cited four current and former employees.1

"I don't think that there's anything untoward about having the president of the United States— the person who is president of the United States—on the 250th-anniversary bill," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a White House briefing on Thursday.

Whether one will get made—and, if so, when—remains an open question. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) introduced a bill in February 2025 ordering the Treasury to print "$250 Federal Reserve notes" with Trump's portrait.2 (Federal law has barred living people from U.S. currency since 1866.3 Wilson's bill would create an exception.) It was referred to committee and hasn't advanced.

A Treasury spokesperson told Investopedia the BEP is "conducting appropriate planning and due diligence" on Wilson's bill and would produce a "$250 commemorative note" for the anniversary if the legislation becomes law.

Bessent said no bills would be produced without such legislation. “We will stick to the law," he said.

@RepAndyBarr / X

The Post's story included a mock-up of a $250 bill featuring the president’s face and signature that it said administration officials provided to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in August. "Any 'designs' are not final or made public unless the bill is made law nor would the BEP release any real designs or mockups before that action occurs," the Treasury spokesperson said.

A new high-value note typically takes six to eight years to produce, employees told the Post, so it might be difficult for a $250 bill to reach wallets anytime soon—or, for that matter, in time for this summer's 250th-anniversary celebrations of the 1776 Declaration of Independence.1

The $100 has been the largest U.S. bill since 1969, when the Treasury pulled the $500 and other large notes.4 Prices have climbed about ninefold since, so today's $100 buys roughly what $11 did then.

Still, even a legal-tender $250 bill wouldn't catch up. Matching what a $100 bill bought in 1969 would cost more than $900 today.

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