- Home
- Agencies
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- General Services Administration
- Department of Commerce
- Department of the Interior
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Department of Defense
- Department of Justice
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Education
- Department of Labor
- Office of Personnel Management
- Department of Energy
- Department of State
- Small Business Administration
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Transportation
- Social Security Administration
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of the Treasury
- U.S. Agency for International Development
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Goals
- Initiatives
- Programs
Primary tabs
Strategic Objective
Facilitate commerce by providing trusted and secure U.S. currency, products, and services for use by the public
Strategic Objective
Overview
One of Treasury’s most visible responsibilities is to reliably provide safe, secure, cost-effective, and high-quality U.S. currency notes and coins that are readily accepted by all users. In addition to currency production, Treasury also facilitates commerce by regulating alcohol and tobacco products and producers to ensure that American businesses operate in a fair, competitive marketplace and provide complete and accurate information to consumers about alcohol products. These functions facilitate seamless and stable commerce, which is a necessary condition for domestic growth and stability.
Read Less...Progress Update
THE FUTURE OF CURRENCY
During the summer of 2015, Secretary Lew announced that the $10 bill, the first in a new family of notes, will undergo a redesign and that a woman's portrait will be featured on U.S. paper currency for the first time in more than a century. The newly designed note is also expected to incorporate a raised tactile feature that increases accessibility and usability for the blind and visually impaired community. As part of his announcement, the Secretary asked Americans to engage in the redesign process by weighing in on whose portrait should be featured and how currency can honor the country’s rich history of democracy. Treasury received more than 1.5 million responses from the public to date through face to face meetings, roundtables, town halls, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, emails, and handwritten letters.
The Department is also working to evaluate the future of coins. The U.S. Mint provided research to Congress on potential alternative metals for coins that could drive down metal costs.
FACILITATION OF COMMERCE
Treasury plays an important role in facilitating commerce for certain industries, such as the alcoholic beverage industry, that rely on Treasury’s approval to enter the market. As these industries continue to expand, particularly in the small winery, brewery, and spirits areas, new businesses that are qualified to operate are waiting longer for permits. Further, increased demand for approvals of alcohol beverage labels and formulas, and declining resources to manage the approval processes, has required Treasury to work to fundamentally reshape these programs. Processing times for these approvals have also increased in recent years, which impede compliant commerce for industry members, and are particularly detrimental to small business. Recent efforts to reduce processing times—including an expanded list of label revisions allowable without new approval—have been outpaced by industry growth.
