Two Maryland Democrats urged Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to follow through on a plan to feature abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill after the administration appeared to cast doubt on that idea Thursday. 
 
 "We will be looking at this issue. It's not something that I'm focused on at the moment," Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview when asked if he supports the plan, announced by the Obama administration, to redesign the $20 bill with an image of Tubman in place of Andrew Jackson. 
 
 "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. And this is something we will consider," Mnuchin said. "Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on." 
 
 Jacob J. Lew, Mnuchin's predecessor, announced last year that Tubman would be featured on a new $20 bill to be unveiled in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the year women received the right to vote. At the time, then candidate Trump described the announcement as "pure political correctness." 
 
 Trump has repeatedly praised Jackson, who was the president from 1829 to 1837. 
 
 Tubman, who would be the first African American pictured on the face of U.S. paper currency, was born to slaves in Dorchester County. She made about 13 missions to rescue dozens of slaves, using a network of safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. 
 
 During the Civil War, she was also a spy and a nurse for the Union army. 
 
 Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Maryland Democrats, said they were concerned when Mnuchin refused to commit to the redesign in the interview. 
 
 "Tubman is fully deserving of this honor," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Mnuchin. "Those we honor on currency make a statement about our nation and our values.” 
 
 john.fritze@baltsun.com 
 
 twitter.com/jfritze 

 Mnuchin on $20 bill: Any changes to currency will be focused on counterfeiting 2:46 PM ET Thu, 31 Aug 2017 | 00:48 
 
 Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin put Harriet Tubman's role on the $20 bill in question. 
 
 The idea of putting the former slave and abolitionist on the bill was proposed during the Obama administration. 
 
 Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday: "Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment." 
 
 Instead, he said he was concentrating on making sure any tweaks to U.S. currency bills thwart counterfeiters. 
 
 "The No. 1 issue why we change the currency is to stop counterfeiting. So the issues of what we change will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes. I've received classified briefings on that. And that's what I'm focused on for the most part," Mnuchin said. 
 
 "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. And this is something we will consider. Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on," he added. 
 
 
 
 Jack Lew, secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama, last year proposed putting Tubman on the $20 bill, replacing Andrew Jackson, the slave-owning seventh U.S. president. 

 Josh Malina, who played a vice president’s chief of staff on the NBC political drama "The West Wing," encouraged his more than 240,000 Twitter followers on Thursday to write the famous abolitionist’s name on $20 bills. 
 
 How about writing "HARRIET TUBMAN" across Jackson's face on every $20 bill that passes through our hands? #resist pic.twitter.com/ZFksm8Sh7V — Joshua Malina (@JoshMalina) August 31, 2017 
 
 Malina’s Twitter message came on the heels of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner MnuchinDeficit hawks voice worry over direction of tax plan GOP eyes limits on investor tax break Overnight Finance: White House requests B for disaster relief | Ex-Equifax chief grilled over stock sales | House panel approves B for border wall | Tax plan puts swing-state Republicans in tough spot MORE’s remark Thursday that the Treasury Department could abandon plans to replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The redesign had been finalized under President Obama. 
 
 “It’s not something that I’m focused on at the moment,�? Mnuchin told CNBC when asked about the planned change. “The issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.�? 
 
 According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's website, currency defacement is defined as "whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued." 
 
 Malina, who currently plays Attorney General David Rosen on ABC’s “Scandal,�? made headlines earlier this month when he called Americans who voted for Trump “stupid.�?
– Harriet Tubman's spot on the $20 bill may be in danger. The Treasury secretary under President Obama announced that slave-owning Andrew Jackson, the current occupant of the bill, would be replaced with Tubman by 2020 (though Jackson would remain on the back of the bill). But asked about the plan Thursday on CNBC, Steve Mnuchin, President Trump's Treasury secretary, implied it's far from a sure thing. "Ultimately we will be looking at this issue. It's not something I'm focused on at the moment," he said. "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. And this is something we will consider. Right now, we've got a lot more important issues to focus on." Trump himself, while acknowledging Tubman is "fantastic," has also said he admires Jackson and doesn't want to remove him from the $20 bill. He has mentioned possibly putting Tubman on the $2 bill or a new bill entirely. Mnuchin's comments Thursday were derided by critics including Chelsea Clinton, and the Baltimore Sun reports Democrats are publicly urging Trump to stick with the Tubman plan. The Hill reports former West Wing star Josh Malina is encouraging a sort of write-in campaign for Tubman, urging fans to write her name on their $20 bills.