Here's what the Harriet Tubman $20 bill looked like before Steven Mnuchin paused its work

Harriet Tubman's $20 bill was a lot closer to Americans' wallets than Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made it seem.

While testifying to the House Financial Services Committee last month, Mnuchin said the Tubman bill's planned 2020 rollout had been delayed to 2028. But judging by how much progress was made on a early version of the bill obtained by The New York Times, it's unclear just what's taking so long.

A proposal to replace former President Andrew Jackson with Tubman on the 2028 bill was first rolled out in 2016, and by the end of that year, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had already drawn up a preliminary design, a former Treasury official tells the Times. A current employee also said they saw a metal engraving plate for the Tubman 20, and that engravers and Secret Service officials were reviewing it "as recently as May 2018," the Times continues.

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Mnuchin denied allegations that he has purposely slowed down the process in an interview with the Times, again saying that a review of the bill's security features had caused the delay. But former Engraving and Printing Director Larry Rolufs told the Times this was odd, seeing as security features and a bill's images are usually created simultaneously. Read more at the Times.