by Veronika Kyrylenko, The New American:
America has already minted its last circulating penny. Congress is now deciding what comes after it.
Last Friday, the Senate passed the Common Cents Act. The bill would formally end penny production for general circulation. It would create national rules for rounding some cash transactions. It would also let Treasury test a cheaper nickel. Existing pennies would remain legal tender.
The House and Senate have now passed separate versions of the Common Cents Act, but the texts differ. Therefore, Congress still must reconcile them.
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On its face, this is a modest efficiency measure. It is also a marker of what decades of inflation have done to American money, and of Washington’s accelerating shift from physical cash toward digital finance.
Costly Penny
Congress is partly catching up with a decision the executive branch already made.
In February 2025, President Donald Trump directed the Treasury secretary to stop producing pennies, citing the fact that each one cost 3.69 cents to make. Treasury subsequently suspended production for circulation.
Announcing the move, Trump said each penny cost “more than 2 cents” to produce and called the practice a “waste.”
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to stop production of the penny pic.twitter.com/ZuVkDRabch
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 10, 2025
The U.S. Mint struck the final circulating penny on November 12, 2025. That ended a 232-year production run.
The economics are difficult to defend. In 2024 alone, the U.S. Mint lost $85.3 million producing pennies. Treasury projected about $56 million in annual material savings from ending production.
When the House approved its version of the Common Cents Act on July 14, House Republicans celebrated the legislation with an Abe Lincoln pun.
“It’s time to be honest with Honest Abe: this coin just isn’t making cents,” the House GOP account posted on X.
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