Recently struck pennies in a bin on the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
Stephen Hilger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill to authorize the U.S. Mint to change the metal content of coins so as to save taxpayers money shall be reintroduced on Thursday, the 2 senators sponsoring the bill exclusively tell CNBC.
The bill’s reintroduction comes just days after a latest report from the U.S. Mint revealed that in 2022, soaring costs for raw metals drove the worth of minting a single nickel past 10 cents, or greater than double the worth of the coin itself.
related investing news
Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst and Latest Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan say their laws is designed to chop the rising expense of minting America’s quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies.
“It’s absolute non-cents that American taxpayers spend ten cents to make only one nickel,” Ernst said in an email to CNBC. “Only Washington could lose money making a living.”
Officially titled the Coin Metal Modification Authorization and Cost Savings Act, the laws was originally introduced in each the House and Senate in 2020.
The bill passed the House that 12 months with overwhelming bipartisan support. But it surely ended up on the Senate’s cutting room floor in favor of more urgent pandemic-related laws.
The chief sponsor of the 2020 House bill, Republican Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada, shall be introducing a new edition of it within the House in coming days, a Senate aide told CNBC.
Today, Washington’s pandemic-era spending spree is over. As an alternative is a latest Republican House majority with a give attention to slashing federal red tape and cutting government spending — all of which might be excellent news for Hassan and Ernst’s Mint bill.
“This bill will save thousands and thousands of dollars per 12 months by modifying the composition of nickels, dimes, and quarters with cheaper metals,” Hassan wrote in an email to CNBC. “I urge my colleagues on each side of the aisle to support our bipartisan bill.”
As party leaders within the House and the Senate work to line up laws that may pass with bipartisan support as a part of an eventual debt ceiling and budget package later this 12 months, proposals just like the one from Ernst and Hassan may gain more momentum than usual.
“This commonsense, bipartisan effort will modify the composition of certain coins to cut back costs while allowing for a seamless transition into circulation,” Ernst said. “A penny saved is a penny not borrowed.”
