President Donald Trump announced plans to halt production of penny on Sunday, but it will require several additional steps and Congressional approval to advance the initiative.
Additionally, Trump said he instructed the Treasury to stop the casting due to high costs, but Penny supporters argue that it’s wise to assess the change in nickel instead. .
“For too long, the US has been minting pennies that cost literally more than two cents,” Trump wrote Sunday in The Truth Society. “This is a lot of waste! I have instructed my US Treasury secretary to stop production of new penny.”
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President Trump has called on the Treasury to stop manufacturing penny due to high costs. (Olivia Oxley via AP)
In fact, producing penny is even more expensive than the number of cards. According to the 2024 US Mint Report, it costs about 3.69 cents to mint a penny. The coin is mainly made of zinc and is covered in copper.
Trump’s statement came after Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was featured on X in January after he was headed by the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Doge is tasked with identifying ways to eliminate waste, prompting change, including hindering the $40 billion US International Development Agency (USAID) that provides assistance to poor countries and development assistance .
Still, there are supporters of Penny. Common St. Americans, an organization that provides Penny values research to Congress and the White House, argued that it aims to reduce the cost of production of nickel.
According to the 2024 US Mint report, 5 cents worth of nickel costs around 13.8 cents to MINT.
“The logical, financially responsible solution is not to eliminate pennies, but to focus on the production of cheaper nickel,” says Americans, Mark Weller, executive director of general cents. said in a statement on January 23rd. “This approach addresses the real driver of losses while maintaining the functioning of small sects in everyday trading.”
In the next step, the water is a bit vague, but experts say it is likely that Congress will need to be involved and pass the law to meet Trump’s wishes. And historically, previous attempts in Congress to eliminate coins have failed.
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According to the 2024 US MINT report, Nickels costs around 13.8 cents on mint. (Kevin Lamarck/Reuters)
“The process of canceling penny in the US is a bit unknown. Congressional actions are likely to be necessary, but the Treasury Secretary may simply be able to stop the creation of new penny,” Northeastern University said. He told Global News.
Still, Capitol Hill has a bipartisan interest in fixing the mint penny. In 2023, Sen. Joni Ernst of R-Iowa and Maggie Hasson of DN.H. reintroduced the law to change the composition of penny to reduce costs.
“It’s absolutely non-cent for American taxpayers to spend 10 cents and earn just one nickel. Only Washington could make money,” Ernst said in an April 2023 statement. . Reduce costs while enabling a seamless transition into circulation.
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Still, it’s unlikely that a configuration change will result in cheaper results. The 2024 Mint report said that various metal configuration options are not available to reduce production costs to face value.
However, there are still some precedents in the change, and Congress previously acted to halt the creation of new coins. The Legislative Branch approved the cancellation of the new Half-Cent Coin in 1857.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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