"It’s not about Harriet Tubman, it’s about keeping the picture on the $20," Steve King said, pulling out a $20 bill and pointing at President Andrew Jackson. | AP Photo House GOP dodges vote to block Harriet Tubman from $20 bill

The House will not vote to block the inclusion of Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, dodging a politically charged vote for GOP lawmakers.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) had filed an amendment to a bill funding the Treasury Department to prohibit the department from redesigning any currency to showcase the abolitionist icon, but the Rules Committee denied floor consideration of the proposal Tuesday night.


"It's not about Harriet Tubman, it's about keeping the picture on the $20," King said Tuesday evening, pulling a $20 bill from his pocket and pointing at President Andrew Jackson. "Y'know? Why would you want to change that? I am a conservative, I like to keep what we have."

The conservative gadfly said it is "racist" and "sexist" to say a woman or person of color should be added to currency. "Here's what's really happening: This is liberal activism on the part of the president that's trying to identify people by categories, and he's divided us on the lines of groups. ... This is a divisive proposal on the part of the president, and mine's unifying. It says just don't change anything."





The Treasury Department announced in April that it would move the image of Jackson to the back of the $20 note, replacing him with Tubman, a former slave who helped other slaves escape to freedom and served with the Union Army during the Civil War. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also announced plans to redesign $5 and $10 bills to include leaders from the women's rights and civil rights movements. Neither Abraham Lincoln nor Alexander Hamilton would be removed from their spots on the front of the $5 and $10 notes.

King is not alone among Republicans opposed to placing the abolitionist and civil rights icon on the $20 bill. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said in April that the move was "pure political correctness" and recommended that an image of Tubman be placed on the $2 bill.

Amendments to appropriations bills have proven troublesome to Republicans in recent weeks. After a Democratic amendment to prohibit discrimination by federal contractors against LGBT people was added to a bill funding energy and water programs, Republicans dropped their support for the measure, and it was defeated. That kerfuffle led Speaker Paul Ryan to go back on his commitment to allow for an open amendment process and instead limit which amendments could be considered.

The Rules Committee blocked consideration of the LGBT amendment, as it has in recent weeks. The willingness of the GOP-controlled panel to stymie a fellow Republican, particularly amid conservative frustration with a limited amendment process, demonstrates the desire to avoid controversial votes in an election year.

King, for his part, saw the amendment as crucial.

"President Obama's on his way out the door," he said. "He's going to do everything he can think of to upset this society and this civilization."