A US passport bearing the image and signature of US President Donald Trump is seen in this rendering released by the State Department in Washington on April 28, 2026.
US State Department via reuters
President Donald Trump’s face should not be printed on special edition US passports, a group led by Democratic senators said in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
In the letter first shared with CNBC, the group led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., called on Rubio to stop plans to issue a limited number of passports featuring Trump to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary.
“US passports should never, and should not, feature a photograph of a sitting US President. Given the anti-democratic impact of this decision, we ask you to stop these plans,” the group wrote.
The letter was signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Jackie Rosen, D-Nev., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Angus King, I-Vt., who negotiate with Democrats.
State Department announced through In April it said it would release limited edition passports and include “a glimpse,” in which Trump’s image was superimposed over the Declaration of Independence.
Trump, with the support of his congressional allies, aims to put his name and likeness on a variety of things in his second term.
His image appears on the 2026 America the Beautiful National Parks annual pass and will appear on the 250th anniversary gold coin, while another effort is underway to get his face on a special edition $1 coin. Also in honor of America’s 250th, Trump’s signature will appear on dollar bills, the first time a sitting president will leave such an imprint on paper currency in U.S. history. Federal departments around Washington, including Agriculture, Justice and Labor, have hung banners with Trump’s likeness on their facades.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path to unprecedented economic growth, enduring dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability,” Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said in a statement. Mudra scheme announced in March. “There is no more powerful way to recognize our great country and the historic accomplishments of President Donald J. Trump than with a U.S. dollar bill bearing his name, and it is fitting that this historic currency be issued in the semiquincentennial.”
Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers in this Congress have introduced legislation to put his image on Mount Rushmore, rename Dulles International Airport in his honor and declare his birthday a national holiday. And Trump is pushing to build a 250-foot “triumphal arch” near Arlington National Cemetery and a $40 million “sculpture garden” Of “American Heroes” near the National Mall.
Democrats have tried to push back on these proposals. In December, Merkley introduced legislation with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., to prevent Trump’s face from being placed on the $1 coin. In January, he teamed up with Representative Sarah Elfrith, D-Md., to introduce a measure that would block Trump’s national park routes.
In a letter to Rubio, the lawmakers asked what the cost would be to taxpayers, how the design was selected and whether there would be an opt-out option.
“Using our nation’s sesquicentennial to raise the profile of the sitting president risks turning a unifying national milestone into a means of personal publicity,” the senators wrote. “Moving forward would risk politicizing a document that is central to our national identity and could result in unnecessary and wasteful costs to the American taxpayer.”
