Pressure has been rising on the Treasury Department since Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced Harriet Tubman would not appear on the $20 bill next year. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo finance Treasury watchdog: What’s delaying Tubman $20 bill?

The Treasury Department's inspector general has agreed to investigate what led to a decision to delay a long-awaited redesign of the $20 bill featuring abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

Pressure on Treasury has been rising since Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month that the new design would not be revealed next year as once planned and that it would likely be up to his successor to oversee the final version, citing work needed on security features.


That prompted a backlash from lawmakers including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who requested that Treasury's inspector general review the matter and look at potential White House involvement.

In a letter to Schumer, Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar said his office would look into the issue as part of an upcoming audit involving the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The work, he said, would take about 10 months to complete.

"The motivation for the Trump administration’s decision to delay the release of the new note has not been credibly explained, and the inspector general’s review must get to the bottom of this," Schumer said in a statement.

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A Treasury spokesperson said that the process for issuing new notes was not political and that security and potential counterfeiting threats were the only considerations when it came to the currency redesign schedule.

The $20 bill currently features President Andrew Jackson, one of President Donald Trump's favorite historical figures. Trump, who once described the move to put Tubman's likeness on the $20 note as "pure political correctness," has suggested that the famed abolitionist could be featured on the $2 bill instead.

