Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement after the U.S. Mint’s announcement unveiling their proposed coin designs to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. The Mint’s newly proposed designs are a major deviation from the original proposals, which were recommended after a public comment period and with input from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and Commission of Fine Arts in 2024. Senator Cortez Masto led the Senate version of the bill that made these coins possible and strongly disagrees with the Trump Administration’s efforts to ignore the law and disregard required Congressional input.
“When Congress passed my bill to create coins celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, it was an opportunity to honor milestones in our nation’s continued progress towards ‘a more perfect union’, including abolition, Civil Rights, and women’s suffrage. These coins have been designed, reviewed and ready to be minted for more than a year.
“While I am glad President Trump responded to Senate Democrats’ pressure and abandoned his plan to plaster his face on our currency as if he were a king, I am deeply disappointed that he chose to scrap coin designs that were already approved to celebrate historic moments for Black Americans, women, and all of us who benefit from equal treatment under the law.
“The American story didn’t stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers, and ignoring anything that has happened in this country in the last 162 years is just another attempt by President Trump to rewrite our history.”
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