Treasury Secretary scraps Biden-era coin designs for 250th anniversary

First on Fox: Treasurer Scott Besant It scrapped designs for Biden-era coins intended to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary after the Trump administration discovered they did not feature a single founding father but instead focused on themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

“The new bicentennial designs will celebrate American history and the founding of our great nation,” US Treasury Secretary Brandon Beach told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “While the Biden Administration and Secretary Yellen remain focused on DEI and Critical Race Theory policies, the Trump Administration is committed to promoting prosperity and well-being. Nationalism. “We have no doubt that these new designs will be very popular with the American people.”

The US Mint had not publicly released designs for the Biden-era quarter coins before Bessent canceled its planned rollout, with Fox News Digital obtaining exclusive images of all the quarters.

Trump signed a law at the end of his first term allowing the creation of up to five new quarters and a dollar coin to honor the president. 250th anniversary After America’s founding in July 2026, WJ led the Citizens’ Currency Advisory Committee, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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The committee approved five themes for coinage, including the Declaration of Independence, and constitutionAbolition, Suffrage and Civil Rights, which included some images of coins from the Biden era, but not all five, the newspaper reported.

The Secretary of the Treasury has the final signature on coin designs. Former Secretary Janet Yellen approved the 2026 coin designs before leaving office, according to the outlet.

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Fox News Digital obtained photos of the now-abolished neighborhoods and found that one who remembers the abolition of slavery showed shackled arms while breaking the chains; While another quarter focusing on women’s suffrage showed arms holding what appeared to be a concrete slab bearing the inscriptions “Liberty, Equality and Justice for Women” and “Right to Vote.” While civil rights coinage showed images of people linking arms with the inscription “We Shall Overcome.”

Scott Besent, US Treasury Secretary, speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington, DC, November 5, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The quarter intended to honor the Declaration of Independence showed the Liberty Bell, while the quarter honoring the Constitution depicted the metaphorical Lady Liberty.

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None of the coins from the Biden era depict the Founding Father, although one side of the repeal coin depicts 19th-century civil rights leader Frederick Douglass.

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for comment on the currency change Thursday evening.

“We try to be very sensitive to how people interpret the themes and designs of the coins,” a member of the coin advisory committee told the Wall Street Journal of the previous designs. “It’s so much more than just money. It’s things that kids will look at and adults will look at.”

The Coinage Creation Act of 2021 noted that the designs “shall be a symbol of the contribution of a woman or woman to the birth of the nation, the Declaration of Independence, or other landmark moments in American history.”

The Trump administration unveiled its version of the quarters Wednesday evening at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, which included a more patriotic tone.

One coin commemorated the Mayflower Compact showing a Pilgrim couple embracing, one honoring the Revolutionary War with a depiction of an American soldier, one commemorating the Declaration with a description of the Liberty Bell, and one honoring the US Constitution with a depiction of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The Treasury Department also created a coin commemorating the end of slavery, focusing on Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address with the inscription “A New Nation, Born in Liberty” above an image of a person pulling another person by the arm.

The new designs come after Trump moved to systematically eliminate DEI programs across the federal government, signing executive orders that directed federal agencies to designate and close DEI offices. Trump and conservatives have argued that DEI practices promote group preferences and ideological conformity over individual merit, free speech, and equal treatment.

The coin change also comes as Democratic lawmakers work to block the Trump administration from rolling out $1 coins depicting the president, which are also part of the administration’s broad effort to mark the country’s semicentennial.

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Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Katherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, introduced legislation earlier in December that would ban the federal government from minting coins bearing the “portrait of a living or sitting president.”

President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino speak to the media as they arrive at the Kennedy Center in December. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

“While kings put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king,” Cortez Masto said in a press release about the legislation. “Our legislation would codify this country’s longstanding tradition of not placing living presidents on U.S. coins. Congress must pass it without delay.”

The Treasury Department cited USC 31 § 5112(y), which grants authority to redesign the circulated semi-annual coins through 2026.

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“Senate Democrats are so passionate about the proposed currency commemorating our nation’s 250th anniversary that they are recklessly trying to change the law to block it,” Beach said of the legislation. “The American people deserve a commemorative coin that celebrates our great nation. While Senate Democrats continue to maintain self-serving impulses, the Trump administration is delivering on prosperity and patriotism.”

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.