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Congress: Hey, Let’s Get Rid of $1 Bills…and Replace Them With Coins

Nov. 30, 2012 9:34am Becket Adams

Congress Considers Replacing $1 notes With Coins

The presidential $1 coin (AP)

Congressional auditors have suggested doing away with $1 bills, noting that replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over the next 30 years.

Vending machine operators have long championed the use of $1 coins because they don’t jam the machines, cutting down on repair costs and lost sales. But most people don’t seem to like carrying them. In the past five years, the U.S. Mint has produced 2.4 billion presidential $1 coins. Most are stored by the Federal Reserve, and production was suspended about a year ago.

The latest projection from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the potential savings from switching to dollar coins entirely comes as lawmakers begin exploring new ways for the government to save money by changing the money itself.

The Mint is preparing a report for Congress showing how changes in the metal content of coins could save money.

The last time the government made major metallurgical changes in U.S. coins was nearly 50 years ago when Congress directed the Mint to remove silver from dimes and quarters and to reduce its content in half dollar coins. Now, Congress is looking at new changes in response to rising prices for copper and nickel.

The GAO’s Lorelei St. James told the House Financial Services panel Thursday it would take several years for the benefits of switching from paper bills to dollar coins to catch up with the cost of making the change. Equipment would have to be bought or overhauled and more coins would have to be produced upfront to replace bills as they are taken out of circulation.

But over the years, the savings would begin to accrue, she said, largely because a $1 coin could stay in circulation for 30 years while paper bills have to be replaced every four or five years on average.

“We continue to believe that replacing the note with a coin is likely to provide a financial benefit to the government,” said St. James, who added that such a change would work only if the note was completely eliminated.

But, again, there’s a reason there aren’t more $1 coins. Most people would rather walk around with five $1 bills than five coins.

Even the $1 coin’s most ardent supporters recognize that they haven’t been popular. Philip Diehl, former director of the Mint, said there was a huge demand for the Sacagawea dollar coin when production began in 2001, but as time wore on, people stayed with what they knew best.

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Mint shows the front, right, and back of the President John Adams presidential $1 coin. (AP)

“We’ve never bitten the bullet to remove the $1 bill as every other Western economy has done,” Diehl said. “If you did, it would have the same success the Canadians have had.”

Beverly Lepine, chief operating officer of the Royal Canadian Mint, said her country loves its “Loonie,” the nickname for the $1 coin that includes an image of a loon on the back. The switch went over so well that the country also went to a $2 coin called the “Toonie.”

Still, the question remains: Will the U.S. be able to make the transition?

This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Mint shows the President John Adams presidential $1 coin. Congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers some $4.4 billion over the next 30 years. (AP Photo/US Mint, File)

Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said men don’t like carrying a bunch of coins around in their pocket or in their suits. And Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the $1 coins have proved too hard to distinguish from quarters.

“If the people don’t want it and they don’t want to use it,” she said, “why in the world are we even talking about changing it?”

“It’s really a matter of just getting used to it,” said Diehl, the former Mint director.

Several lawmakers were more intrigued with the idea of using different metal combinations in producing coins.

Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, said a penny costs more than 2 cents to make and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make. Moving to multiplated steel for coins would save the government nearly $200 million a year, he said.

The Mint’s report, which is due in mid-December, will detail the results of nearly 18 months of work exploring a variety of new metal compositions and evaluating test coins for attributes as hardness, resistance to wear, availability of raw materials and costs.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments (129)

noslave
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:02am
and obama can truely sell out america for 30 pieces of ?? tin??it dont matter any american money will be worthless as confederate money when his communist crew acheive their goal??

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- edcoil
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:28am
  No thank you.
  
  Report this comment
- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:09am
  He has already sold us out for trillions with a “little” (or a lot) of help from his friends both past and present. You do know what happened to the real sell out for 30 pieces, right?
  
  Report this comment
- DAS_MOOCH
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:31am
  Holy Mackrel YO, what a perfect oppotunity to puts a picsure of Barack on a coin. I’m sure the knee-grows will concur YO…..
  
  Report this comment
- watchmanwatch
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:31am
  Also I wonder if this will be the Gov. chance to take ” In GOD we Trust ” off the money???
  
  Well; they do everything else to take GOD out of everything we do, see, and hold dear… Just something else to think about as we all know they did not want GOD in anything at the last Democratic National party thingy in NC… Hey I put nothing past this regime…
  
  Report this comment
- KidCharlemagne
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:39am
  noslave
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:02am
  
  it dont matter any american money will be worthless as confederate money
  =============================
  
  Confederate money already is (and has been for awhile) worth more than American money:
  
  Confederate money currently selling on Ebay
  
  Report this comment
- Baddoggy
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:40pm
  We would save 4 billion over 30 years! ROFLMAO Divide that up over 30 years….Now we are adding a TRILLION a year in debt…Compare how much is saved to the debt…ROFLMAO
  
  Also we will have to carry the damn heavy things around all day, fix the holes in our pockets and hope no one pays us in ones! All of this is beyond stuoid!
  
  Report this comment
- Bobj_1960
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 4:14pm
  @DAS_mooch: then would we have our own ‘loonie’?
  
  Report this comment
- noslave
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 5:05pm
  to texasgranny i do know what happened but this judas does not have the balls.
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 10:59am
  …a few MILLION….SPREAD-OVER [30-YRS]!! In 30yrs, the PROGS will have OUR NATIONAL-DEBT AT OVER 30-40TRILLION$$!!! These PROG-lemmings in Congress have spent OUR$$ by the millions in ARGUING about this shitz before passing/not-passing anythIng!!!
  
  Report this comment
Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:00am
Why not just designate pennies as the new dollar? We’re headed there anyway.. We can call them ‘obamabucks’

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- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:03am
  Pennies are the most worthless of all our coins so it would be applicable. How about Obamajunk?
  
  Report this comment
- Wolf
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 4:30pm
  Wrong, Granny- those copper pennies in your pocket are worth three times as much as the pretend dimes you have, and the nickels are worth even more.
  
  Report this comment
ArmedAndReallyPissed
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:00am
The latest projection from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the potential savings from switching to dollar coins entirely comes as lawmakers begin exploring new ways for the government to save money by changing the money itself……….”exploring NEW ways to save money”…..I got one…..STOP FRIGGIN SPENDING.

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elosogrande
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:59am
Hey, Let’s get rid of all of the stupid and corrupt members of Congress and replace them with honest & intelligent people. We could save $4.4 TRILLION over the next TEN years… and still print $1 bills.

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- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:50am
  I vote yes.
  
  Report this comment
- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:08pm
  I’ll second that!
  
  Report this comment
Exidor
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:57am
No thanks! I walked around London for two weeks with about 5 pounds of coins in my pockets. Huge pain.

Oh and Congress needs to literally be bombed out of existence. The only reason they would consider this is if they’re going to make themselves money on it.

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PatriotSherry
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:57am
Notice what is missing on this new coin – “In God We Trust” – not too surprising.

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- copatriots
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:03am
  Just said the same thing, SHERRY! Are we sisters? ; )
  
  Report this comment
- RANGER1965
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:13am
  Good eye!
  
  Now you know why this is such a good idea to many socialists.
  
  Report this comment
- DZ-015
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:34am
  The National Motto is lettered around the edge in place of the reeding found on the dime, quarter, and half dollar on presidential dollars minted in 2007 and 2008. Edge lettering had been previously used on the earliest half dollar and dollar coins minted beginning in 1795. Due to complaints, the motto was restored to the portrait side of dollars minted in 2009 and thereafter. The edge lettering now contains the date, mintmark, and the legend “E Pluribus Unum.”
  
  Report this comment
- copatriots
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:41am
  Why, of course, DZ. Such a prominent display of the wording that is so easily readable. OR……easily dismissable at some point when the culture has truly forgot it’s founding.
  
  Report this comment
- lonwarner2
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:45am
  “In God We Trust” is engraved on the edge or rim of the coins.
  
  Report this comment
- Winedude
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:48am
  Have you seen the current issue of American Dollar coins? I do believe that they have In God We Trust on the side of the coin. Not sure why we have to put this on our money but it’s already there. I know I could care less what’s printed or stamped on my coins. For what it’s worth, all I care about is that the currency & coins work for any purchase. Is there another country that puts this nonsense on its coins? I certainly don’t know of one. And their money still work as I am writing this from a country in South America and just came back from doing a bit of shopping.
  
  Report this comment
- SoNick
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:44pm
  @copatriot
  When you write “easily dismissable at some point when the culture has truly forgot it’s founding”, are you tring to imply that making “In God We Trust” the national motto was the Founders’ idea? because if you are, you’re dead wrong. That happened in 1956.
  
  Report this comment
- copatriots
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:09pm
  No…..SON. It’s because I have read the Founders own words and know where the public meetings and planning for the Revolution actually occurred.
  
  Here’s a question for you, SON, why in the world did the Government decide to add the motto in 1956? I have no doubt your response will be laden with your indoctrinated learning.
  
  Report this comment
Mandors
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:56am
They have been talking about doing this for 30 years. Who cares?! 4 Billion 30 YEARS?!! That’s not even a rain drop in the ocean of debt our idiot “representatives” have gotten us into.

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- Mudd
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:27pm
  You really don’t think your going to win anyone over with math and logic do you?
  
  Report this comment
MDECKER
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:53am
Geeez, with savings like that, I can take that vacation to Gary, Indiana, in 8 million years.

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- copatriots
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:03am
  What’s their motive? This cannot be the biggest priority of Congress. They are NEVER about actually saving the taxpayers money.
  
  Hmmm……I don’t see “In God We Trust” on the coin. Maybe that’s a good thing……because we surely are no longer trusting in God with our currency or anything else as a nation any longer. Why lie about it on our coinage?
  
  Report this comment
APROUDVETERAN
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:52am
If these CLOWNS really want to save money, they should look no further than their immediate surroundings. Throw out all the lobbyists and their sweetheart deals and start representing the people who elected you. The founders had the right idea. Politicians should all be part timers and return to their respective states after one term. While they’re at it, eliminate this nonsense of a permanent pension after serving in Congress…….that is BEYOND thievery !!!

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Detroit paperboy
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:52am
4.4 billion dollars is ONE DAYS DEFICET SPENDING…………deck chairs on the Titanic.

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Nevermind
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:51am
I use these daily, DC metro gives them out when you get change and they are actually pretty handy.

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Maureen1955
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:49am
Canada did this about 20 years ago and there is NO problem in identifying the $1 coin (it is a different colour than a quarter) and then we introduced the $2 coin and again no problem. Recently we introduced a polymer based $50 and $20 bill because they will last longer than paper and they have more counterfeit proof features.

This is a good idea – consequently it will not be introduced

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- Leslie Anne
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:08am
  I liked the $1 and $2 coins in Canada when I was up there. Especially the $2 one because it was two different colours of metal :) Kinda cool looking, easy to pay for stuff.
  
  Report this comment
- Winedude
  Posted on December 1, 2012 at 7:39am
  Argentina, country with far more governmental issues than the USA, just introduced a $2 coin in 2011. They are getting rid of the $2 bill, all of which are in pretty sorry shape since no more are being printed. I guess that American exceptionalism will prevent us from doing something so obviously helpful in saving money. The notes comments against this move seems to be from a collection of people who are against anything happening that might move the country forward. Sorry folks, 1776 was 225+ years ago and times have certainly changed. Get with the program…
  
  Report this comment
Cibolo
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:48am
Using different metals……. WHAT A JOKE….. Read the US Constitution…….. These bass turds are suppo9sed to be making “ALL” money out of Silver or Gold (precious metals)…… Silver Certificates were bad enough, but at least they promised the value backing the note. This is just another clever way of devaluing the dollar!

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- IndyGuy
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:06am
  Good point…Kinda like the I.O.U.s in the Social Security lockbox…
  
  Report this comment
- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:22am
  Yes. The joke is on us and it ain’t funny. Do they sit in their funny rooms and laugh? Ya think? By the way Blaze, thanks for your new policy change,
  
  Report this comment
- geoff135
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 4:31pm
  Where does it say the federal government is supposed to be using precious metals to make money? I read the Congress shall have power ‘To coin Money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.” Are you confusing the power of Congress with the line that says “No State shall “make any Thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment in tender of debts”?
  
  Report this comment
flipper1073
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:48am
We already have Them an They are a Pain in the A$$.
(Susan B Anthony an Sacajawea an I Think there’s a new one)
They are too close to Quarters an if they made them Larger like
the Eisenhower Dollars they don’t fit in the Cash Drawer.
Ask anyone who works in Retail.

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- cdn1979
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:53am
  what degree of stupid are you? The one dollar bill is the same size, shape, weight, and color of the all other bills. The amount of bacteria that sticks to paper money is gross. Move along with the times.
- flipper1073
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:01am
  What Degree of STUPID Are You ?
  the Eisenhower Dollars are Large Silver Dollar Sized Coins.
  I’m fully aware that ALL Paper Money is The Same Size.
  ODD sized Coins Are A PAIN IN THE A$$.
  
  Report this comment
- flipper1073
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:14am
  ALSO CDN
  Might I suggest that if You Hate Handling Paper Money
  GET A DEBIT CARD Only You Handle That.
  or You might try Hand Sanitizer.
  Coins have Germs TOO.
  
  Report this comment
JustAnAverageCitizen
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:48am
Great idea, except maybe they should issue 1/16th of a coin for every dollar, considering the $40B/month our gov’t is printing every month. Get 16 coin portions, you got a dollar.

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scrudge
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:48am
Ah Yes….. better yet… do away with congress… most of them are DIRTBAGS… they vote for themselves what ever they want… and take from us….

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- flipper1073
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:55am
  I like Your Idea !
  SAVE the Dollar Bill
  Get Rid of Congress
  Replace them with something that
  Actually WORKS.
  
  Report this comment
- Gary_K
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:50am
  ” Get Rid of Congress
  Replace them with something that
  Actually WORKS. ”
  
  I agree. Monkeys would be a good choice. At least they would be entertaining on CSPAN.
  
  Report this comment
- flipper1073
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:59am
  GARY
  Or cockroaches at least they have decency
  to scatter when you shine a light on them.
  
  Report this comment
Thighmaster
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:47am
“could save taxpayers” Really ? Does this mean taxpayers get this money back or does it just mean government will waste it somewhere else ?

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msconstrue
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:45am
i lived in the UK for a while and using the 1 pound coin was no big deal……as far as confusion with the quarter goes, just make it look and feel different.

it doesn’t seem like something to get your knickers in a bunch over!

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- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:00am
  In the UK you most likely have a king and/or queen on your coins (that is a guess). We have George Washington Alexander Hamilton U.S.Grant Abraham Lincoln, and others of our history. And In God We Trust. How slick would it be to pull our history away from us and replace them with shall we say Barack Insane Obama umm umm um? This is exactly what has happened over the years. All coins of any value have been replaced with junk coins. Suppose then after the bills are gone, what say the junk coins are replaced as well? Gee, the wunderkins might stamp a nice Harry Reid, Pelosi. Pick up a penny these days, whata you got? Panties in a bunch? You betcha.
  
  Report this comment
DebbieB
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:43am
Brilliant!! Put all of their IQ’s together and you might get 100. The American people rejected this because they looked like a quarter and the coins are bulky.
With the Dems refusing to cut spending and Obama doing his share by eliminating M & M candies on air force one we are doomed!!!!

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Joss
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:43am
If it will truly save millions and billions, do it. Get rid of the penny while you’re at it.

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mike_trivisonno
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:42am
Mint a $10,000,000,000 coin and hand to to the Federal Reserve.

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hauschild
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:41am
My first reaction is what the coin would look like and how politically correct it would be made.

So, with that in mind, screw the coin and keep the sawbuck.

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- flipper1073
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:59am
  @ HAUSCHILD
  since the last two 1$ coins both have PC Women
  on them I’m Quessing the New one would have
  Either Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi on It.
  Or they could wait till Sarah Palin is the FIRST
  Female President then at least the Coin would be PRETTY !
  
  Report this comment
IndyGuy
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:40am
Been there and done that numerous times…NOBODY WANTS THEM…Idiots in government…We are doomed…

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LaBelle
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:39am
You know what they say…”Follow the Money” literally, because it’s all about crony capitalism and ulterior motive. I’m sure whomever is supplying the metal will be someone very “close” to this administration.

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- booger71
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:46am
  Might as well make them out of cardboard, that is what our currency is worth nowadays.
  
  Report this comment
The_Jerk
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:38am
Déjà vu all over again. Seen this act before.

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- mike_trivisonno
  Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:43am
  Mooo!
  
  Report this comment

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