Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. examines a partially printed sheet of $20 Federal Reserve Notes during a visit to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. BEP Director Larry Felix is obscured at upper right. (Photo courtesy U.S. Treasury.)
Your spending money this holiday season might have a slightly new look ? not a new face, but a new signature.
During an October visit to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. pushed the button to begin production of new bills with his name on them.
The first notes with Paulson?s name, along with that of U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral, are $20 Federal Reserve Notes.
It is expected that some of these notes will be transmitted to the Federal Reserve starting in November, making them available to consumers via the banking system before the end of the year.
These $20s also carry a new series date, Series 2006.
The 2006 date will appear on all new notes printed with the Paulson-Cabral signature combination, regardless of what calendar year they are produced in.
BEP Director Larry Felix escorted Paulson on a tour of the three main currency production areas of the BEP?s Washington, D.C., facility, Oct 23.
Paulson met with BEP workers and viewed the process by which U.S. paper money is printed.
After the tour, Paulson held a question-and-answer session with BEP employees.
Signatures of 25 Treasury secretaries and 16 Treasurers have appeared on U.S. paper money since the current size was introduced in 1929.
Like the U.S. Mint, the BEP is a division of the U.S. Treasury. It currently produces all U.S. paper money, and also performs specialty printing for the government.
