President Trump Walks OUT with a 100-0 Senate Vote as Lawmakers Came Together To Pass Bill to End...
Senate Unites Behind Common Cents Act as Lawmakers Move to End the Penny
WASHINGTON, D.C.
In a rare display of bipartisan agreement, the U.S. Senate has unanimously advanced legislation that would formally end production of the penny and establish new rules governing cash transactions across the country.
The measure, known as the Common Cents Act (S. 1525), passed the Senate by unanimous consent on August 7 after lawmakers in both chambers pursued separate versions of the legislation.
Because the House and Senate approved different texts, the House must now consider and approve the Senate version before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.
If enacted, the legislation would mark a significant change to the nation's coinage system and bring an end to the production of one-cent coins for general circulation.
The Penny Would Stop Being Minted
The centerpiece of the legislation is the formal termination of penny production.
The measure would codify the Treasury Department's decision to stop producing new pennies for circulation while preserving the legal-tender status of the coins already in Americans' possession.
An estimated 114 billion pennies are currently circulating in the United States.
Those coins would not suddenly become worthless.
Consumers could continue using existing pennies to make purchases, while banks and businesses could continue accepting them under existing legal-tender rules.
The change would instead prevent the federal government from continuing to manufacture additional pennies for ordinary circulation.
Supporters argue that the move makes economic sense because the cost of producing and distributing extremely low-value coins has increasingly exceeded their face value.
Cash Purchases Could Be Rounded
The legislation would also create a voluntary system allowing businesses to round certain cash transactions to the nearest five cents.
The proposed framework would apply only to the final total of a cash purchase.
Transactions ending in one, two, six or seven cents would be rounded down.
Amounts ending in three, four, eight or nine cents would be rounded up.
For example, a cash purchase totaling $10.01 could be rounded to $10.00, while a purchase totaling $10.04 could become $10.05.
The rounding system would not apply to every form of payment.
Credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments and checks would continue to be processed for the exact purchase amount.
That distinction is intended to ensure that consumers using electronic payment methods are not affected by the elimination of new pennies.
Why Lawmakers Want a Uniform System
Supporters say the legislation could also prevent confusion as pennies become less common.
Without a nationwide framework, individual states or local governments could potentially establish conflicting rules governing how retailers handle cash transactions.
The proposed federal framework would provide businesses with a consistent approach to rounding while giving them the option to participate.
Advocates argue that uniform rules could reduce disputes at checkout and protect retailers from legal complications related to rounding during periods when pennies become increasingly difficult to obtain.
The goal is to make the transition gradual rather than disruptive.
Existing pennies would remain in circulation, while businesses could begin using the rounding mechanism when necessary.
The Nickel Has Become a Problem, Too
The legislation does not stop with the penny.
Lawmakers are also addressing the economics of producing the five-cent coin.
The U.S. Mint has faced losses on nickel production for years, with rising metal costs contributing significantly to the problem.
The legislation would give the Treasury Department authority to study and test alternative compositions that could reduce the cost of producing nickels.
One possibility involves increasing the use of zinc or other lower-cost materials.
However, lawmakers included safeguards to prevent a change in composition from creating problems for businesses and consumers.
Any new nickel formulation would have to undergo testing to determine whether it works reliably in equipment that depends on coin specifications.
That includes:
Vending machines
Parking meters
Coin-counting machines
Other coin-operated equipment
The requirement is particularly important for businesses that rely on automated payment systems.
A cheaper coin would provide little benefit if millions of machines nationwide suddenly had difficulty recognizing it.
A Rare Bipartisan Agreement
The Senate's unanimous action is notable in an era when even relatively technical legislation can become caught up in partisan disputes.
The Common Cents Act instead focuses on a narrow set of practical questions:
How much should taxpayers spend producing extremely low-value coins?
How should businesses handle cash when pennies become less available?
And can the government reduce production costs without creating new problems for consumers?
Supporters argue that the legislation represents the type of straightforward fiscal reform that Washington should be capable of passing more frequently.
Rather than debating major ideological questions, lawmakers are focusing on reducing unnecessary costs and modernizing an outdated part of the financial system.
What Happens Next?
Despite the Senate's unanimous action, the legislation has not yet become law.
Because the House and Senate passed different versions, the House must approve the Senate's exact language before the measure can reach the president.
That means additional congressional action is still required.
If the House approves the Senate version, the legislation would then move to the president for consideration.
Only after presidential approval would the new federal framework formally take effect.
What Would Change for Americans?
For most consumers, the transition would likely be gradual.
Existing pennies would remain legal tender.
People would not be required to exchange or discard them.
The biggest change would occur as the supply of newly minted pennies disappears.
Businesses that choose to participate in cash rounding could adjust final purchase totals to the nearest nickel according to the rules established by the legislation.
Electronic payments would remain unchanged.
That means a customer paying with a credit card for a $7.02 purchase would still be charged exactly $7.02, while a participating retailer accepting cash could round the final amount according to the applicable rule.
The system is therefore designed to target the practical problem created by disappearing pennies rather than eliminating precise pricing altogether.
The Beginning of a Broader Coinage Debate
The penny debate also raises a larger question about America's coinage system.
As production costs rise and consumers increasingly rely on digital payments, the economic justification for maintaining very low-denomination coins has become increasingly difficult to defend.
The penny is not the only coin facing pressure.
The legislation's attention to nickel production demonstrates that lawmakers are beginning to examine the economics of the entire low-denomination coin system.
If alternative nickel materials can be developed without disrupting vending machines, parking meters or other coin-operated equipment, the government could potentially reduce another source of production losses.
For now, however, the penny remains the immediate focus.
A Small Coin With a Big Economic Question
The penny has been part of American commerce for generations.
Its disappearance from the minting process would therefore have a symbolic significance far beyond its one-cent value.
But supporters of the Common Cents Act argue that the issue is ultimately about practicality.
If the government spends more producing and distributing a coin than that coin is worth, eliminating new production can be viewed as a straightforward cost-saving measure.
At the same time, lawmakers recognize that Americans still use cash and that businesses need clear rules for handling transactions.
The proposed rounding framework attempts to bridge those two realities.
It preserves existing pennies as legal tender while preparing retailers and consumers for a future in which new pennies are no longer entering circulation.
The Senate's unanimous vote suggests that, at least on this issue, lawmakers have found common ground.
The next test will come in the House.
If Congress completes the process and the president signs the legislation, the United States will take a major step toward ending the production of its smallest denomination coin.
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And after more than a century of pennies being produced for everyday commerce, Americans could soon begin adapting to a new reality:
The penny may remain in their pockets—but the federal government would stop making more of them.
