Reagan dime makes sense, backers say
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Reagan dime makes sense, backers say
By Lisa Friedman
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- FDR, get off the dime!
That's the command from a handful of Southern California Republican congressmen involved in an effort to replace Franklin Delano Roosevelt's image on the dime with Ronald Reagan's.
Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., introduced the legislation that would boot the Democratic architect of the New Deal in the Great Depression from all future 10-cent coins to make way for the conservative icon.
"It is particularly fitting to honor the Freedom President on this particular piece of coinage because, as has been pointed out, President Reagan was wounded under the left arm by a bullet that had ricocheted and flattened to the size of a dime," Souder wrote to colleagues in rounding up support for his bill.
About 80 lawmakers, all Republicans, have co-sponsored the Ronald Reagan Dime Act, including Reps. Elton Gallegly of Thousand Oaks; Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of Santa Clarita; Bill Thomas of Bakersfield; and David Dreier of Glendora.
"FDR believed the federal government should spend your dimes. Ronald Reagan believed the people should spend their own dimes. I think it's clear that the dimes in your pocket should bear Ronald Reagan's image," Gallegly said in a statement explaining his support of the bill.
Other California congressional aides insisted their bosses have nothing against Roosevelt.
"Congressman Dreier just believes, obviously, that President Reagan was a great American that deserves recognition," said his spokeswoman, Jo Maney.
But Delano Roosevelt, grandson of the former president, says the move is just a divisive publicity stunt.
"I could care less about who's on the dime," the former Long Beach city councilman said. "But it's all about how they are going about it. ... And I think it's embarrassing that (the congressmen) have nothing else better to do than to do some sort of grandstanding thing just to get them on 'This Week In Review."'
The Reagan Dime Act is hardly the first attempt to put the former president on U.S. currency. But Souder spokesman Martin Green said this bill was fueled by Republican outrage in the wake of the CBS miniseries on the 40th president.
The TV network initially pulled "The Reagans" from its lineup because of complaints from Reagan devotees. It appeared on a cable channel Sunday.
In 2001, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky heralded legislation placing Reagan's image on the $10 bill. But according to Ronald Reagan Legacy Project leader Grover Norquist, that measure fell apart because California politicians couldn't agree on who among them would get to sponsor the House version of the bill.
Norquist, whose organization promotes the creation of at least one significant Reagan landmark or institution in all 50 states and 3,067 counties, is in full support of Souder's dime bill.
But perhaps already sensitive to the reaction Democrats might have to stripping the image of the man who led America out of the Depression into victory in World War II and created the nation's most-ambitious social programs, both Souder and Norquist said they would be willing to share the dime.
That is, they would be open to rotating images of both Roosevelt and Reagan on the coin.
"They are the two sort of seminal presidents of the 20th century," Norquist said.
Chris Butler, spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform, which runs the Reagan Legacy Project, said the new quarters featuring depictions from all 50 states show people can handle having different images on the same coin.
Unlike changing images on paper money, which requires an act of Congress, the U.S. Mint can administratively decide to modify coin images. Norquist said Souder's bill was really to demonstrate levels of support.
If it chooses to do so, the U.S. Mint could put Reagan on a coin within months of his death. Reagan is 92 and suffers from Alzheimer's disease.
The Mint issued the FDR dime in 1946, shortly after his death, to commemorate Roosevelt's support of the March of Dimes.
According to Souder aides, it costs 3.2 cents to make a single dime, and last year the Mint issued about 2 billion dimes.
It could cost between $30,000 and $80,000 to redesign the dime with Reagan's image. Supporters of the bill argue that the proposal is fiscally responsible because collectors would gobble up the new coins.
"Every time the Mint issues a new coin, collectors snap them up," Green said. "The Treasury profits off new coins."
Meanwhile, Southern California Democrats said they find the idea of pushing FDR off the dime insulting. They're not thrilled with sharing, either.
"Why don't they figure out something new to do instead of wiping out one part of America's historical record -- that of an incredible president -- in order to set their favorite on there?" said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys.
Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 lisa.friedman@langnews.com
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Comments
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>Save it for a commemorative after he's no longer with us. No more Presidents on regular coinage. Russ, NCNE >>
I second that motion. No more real people and no more real places on regular coinage.
Could not agree more. There's too much political agenda making that follows on the coattails of placing presidents on coins. Presidents on coins make some people happy and others outright angry. Our coinage should be a reflection of the underlying values of every American, and completely nonpartisan. Bring back allegory.
Hoot
Go back to Miss Liberty, or anybody but a bunch of corrupt, selfish, grossly overated politicians.
Next the same fools that want to put dead presidents on coins will want other celebs - I suppose Michael Jackson will be proposed.
Put some slugs and snails on coins - they look nice and at least they are honest.
edited:
<< <i>. Our coinage should be a reflection of the underlying values of every American, and completely nonpartisan. Bring back allegory. >>
Wasn't Roosevelt from New York? Maybe the NY lawmakers should hurry and force legislation down everyones throat to keep Roosevelt
on the dime forever! After all, the scumbag Virginia lawmakers own the nickel, why shouldn't NY own the dime?
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
<< <i>He's not even a dead president, like the others on coinage. >>
He's been Brain Dead for 16 years!! Don't that count???