Mnuchin Flaunts New $1 Bills With His Signature Amid Production Tour

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, a... Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) in Washington. The Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. At left is BEP Director Leonard Olijar. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) MORE LESS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza are now on the money, literally.

The two officials took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on Wednesday to see firsthand the production of new $1 bills, the first currency that will bear their signatures.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, with his wife Louise Linton, at far left, and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza, right, hold up sheets of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing Mnuchin and Carranza’s signatures, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. Behind Mnuchin is BEP Director Leonard Olijar. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Mnuchin’s signature is decidedly more legible than that of his predecessor Jacob Lew. Lew had handwriting that was so sloppy that former President Barack Obama once joked that unless he made his signature more legible, it might debase the currency.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's signatures is seen on new dollar bills, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s signatures is seen on new dollar bills, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Carranza and Mnuchin, accompanied by his wife Louise Linton, examined sheets of the $1 bills at the bureau’s Washington printing plant. The currency will be shipped to Federal Reserve regional banks around the country, and the new bills are expected to go into circulation in December.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, left, react as Mnuchin holds up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza’s signatures, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Both Treasury officials provided 10 sample signatures, from which one was chosen for government engravers.

Signatures of Treasury secretaries have been appearing on U.S. currency since 1914.

During his appearance to examine the new currency, Mnuchin did not address the issue of whether the Trump administration will reverse a decision made by the Obama administration to replace Andrew Jackson, who currently appears on the $20, with Harriet Tubman, the 19th century African-American abolitionist.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is reflected in a printing plate of $1 notes bearing his signature, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is reflected in a printing plate of $1 notes bearing his signature, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. The new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

During last year’s presidential campaign, President Donald Trump criticized the move as “pure political correctness,” while praising Jackson, the nation’s seventh president.

Asked about the possibility of reversing the decision to put Tubman on the $20, Mnuchin in September had said that the major focus was on improving security features to thwart counterfeiters and that the final designs were “very far in the future.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, shows his wife Louise Linton a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza’s signatures, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) in Washington. The Mnuchin-Carranza notes, which are a new series of 2017, 50-subject $1 notes, will be sent to the Federal Reserve to issue into circulation. At left is BEP Director Leonard Olijar. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The next bill scheduled for re-design is the $10. It will not be released until 2026.

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