Two Democratic U.S. senators — Jeff Merkley from Oregon and Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada — introduced legislation Dec. 9 seeking to block the Treasury Department’s plans to strike and release into general circulation in 2026 a dollar coin featuring a likeness of President Donald J. Trump.

The bill, S.3408, would prohibit a current president or any former president from appearing on any United States currency during their lifetime.

Three additional Democratic senators — Ron Wyden from Oregon, Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut and Andy Kim of New Jersey, are co-sponsors of S. 3408.

“The Change Corruption Act would ensure President Trump cannot be featured on an upcoming one-dollar coin in celebration of the Semiquincentennial, America’s 250th birthday,” Merkley says in a news release on his Senate website.

Passage of S. 3408 would ensure that “No United States currency may feature the likeness of a living or sitting President.”

The full text of the proposed legislation can be found online at https://www.merkley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Change-Corruption-Act.pdf.

“President Trump’s self-celebrating maneuvers are authoritarian actions worthy of dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, not the United States of America,” said Merkley in his Dec. 9 news release. “We must reject his efforts to dismantle our ‘We, The People’ republic and replace it with a strongman state by demanding strong accountability to prevent further abuse of taxpayer dollars. As we look ahead to America’s 250th birthday, I’ll keep fighting back against Trump’s corruption and partisan propaganda.”

Cortez Masto added, “While monarchs put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king. Our legislation would codify this country’s long-standing tradition of not putting living Presidents on American coins. Congress must pass it without delay.

Wyden said “Donald Trump will stop at nothing to steal the spotlight, and that includes putting an image of himself on a U.S. coin. While kings insist on immortalizing their image on shiny objects, real leaders care about focusing on the issues of today. I’m proud to support this bill that ensures our country does not worship its leaders like kings.”

Commented Blumenthal, “President Trump seeks to disobey the law and betray our American values by having his portrait minted on U.S. currency. [By] long-standing tradition and rejection of monarchy, our nation has never allowed the image of a living or sitting president to be used on circulating currency. Our Change Corruption Act reaffirms this tradition and prohibits currency from being used to honor or promote the current President of the United States.”

On Dec. 1, Merkley and Cortez Masto led seven Senate Democrats in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling on him to reject the proposed designs for the Semiquincentennial dollar coin featuring the likeness of President Trump.

The remaining senators signing the Dec. 1 letter to Bessent are Wyden, Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware, Ruben Gallego from Arizona, Mazie Hirono from Hawaii, Andy Kim from New Jersey, Jack Reed from Rhode Island and Adam Schiff from California.

The text of the Dec. 1 letter included the following: “American lawmakers throughout history have reaffirmed the time-honored tradition of not circulating U.S. currency with images of currently elected officials.

“For centuries, minting sitting presidents on U.S. currency has been avoided to prevent the appearance that the U.S. is a monarchy or subject to a cult of personality. While the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have featured images of former Queen Elizabeth II for decades, and now also feature King Charles III on their banknotes, the United States has never, and we should not now, mint circulating currency with images of currently elected officials.”

The full text of the Dec. 1 letter can be found online at https://www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/12.01.25-Cortez-Masto_Merkley_Letter-to-Secretary-Bessent-re_-No-Trump-1-coin-for-the-semiquincentennial-OFFICIAL.pdf.

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