The American penny — or the one-cent piece if you ask a coin collector — was once a standard item of exchange in everyday commerce. Now, many see it as junk to be discarded. In fact, Americans throw away up to $68 million in coins every year, much of which are pennies.
With our national debt approaching $37 trillion, there is an urgent need to reduce government waste and inefficiencies meaningfully. At a time when slashing such waste is the rule for sound policy in Washington, there is perhaps no form of waste more egregious than the production of the penny. It is outdated, inefficient, and no longer serves the needs of our economy.
Recommended Stories
- What it means for Russia's fight in Ukraine to be a 'holy war'
- Time to choose: Trial lawyers or Trump's energy agenda
- The confessional is not a legal loophole for child abusers
As lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee, it is abundantly clear to us that this effort is long overdue. President Donald Trump agrees. This spring, he issued an executive order prohibiting the treasury secretary from minting more pennies. In Congress, we are working to codify this into permanent law. From a cost-efficiency perspective, this is common sense.
The U.S. Mint spends $0.0369 to make and distribute just one penny. Last year, we minted over 3 billion of them, resulting in losses of over $86 million for the federal government and hard-working taxpayers. Not only is this wildly expensive and fiscally irresponsible, but the penny itself has lost its value over the years.
Due to inflation, pennies are worth 1/33 of what they were worth when we put President Abraham Lincoln’s face on them in 1909.
This is nothing new. 2024 marked the 19th consecutive year that pennies cost more to produce than their worth in buying power, a cost difference that increased over 20% last year. We are now looking at decades of blatant taxpayer waste.
This sort of economic burden on the taxpayer is exactly what we are trying to root out in Washington. Clearly, it is both fiscally responsible and practical to discontinue penny production. It is estimated that doing so would save the federal government $56 million annually. With such massive savings in mind, it is no wonder that 58% of Americans support this effort. In fact, hardly any policy proposals garner such widespread support in today’s political climate.
But how would we even implement such a proposal? What would this look like in a real-world situation? The Modernize and Improve our National Tender Act answers that question.
The MINT Act would prohibit the production of the penny but ensure that every penny still in circulation is eligible as legal tender. Put simply, we propose to eliminate the wasteful spending to produce the penny while maintaining its use in commerce.
FED HOLDS INTEREST RATES STEADY, BUCKING TRUMP PRESSURE
There are 114 billion pennies in circulation, meaning this iconic part of America’s legal tender isn’t going anywhere for quite some time. But we simply have no economic or practical justification to continue producing them. We can think of no better time to pursue this effort than now, when the slashing of wasteful government spending has finally gained momentum in Washington.
Old Abe will still be remembered fondly on another form of tender: the $5 bill. And that bill isn’t going anywhere. The penny, however, most certainly should.
Lisa McClain represents Michigan’s Ninth Congressional District in the House of Representatives and is the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
Frank Lucas represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District in the House of Representatives and is the chairman of the Task Force on Monetary Policy, Treasury Market Resilience, and Economic Prosperity