115th Congress - House Bill 2299 and Senate Bill 759...

BackroadJunkie

Thanks to Coinworld for the heads up on these...

Here we go again. I wonder if they'll get traction this time. Two bills introduced May 2 and March 29.

H.R 2299 - Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act of 2017

Short Version:
1) Change the composition/production (but not the elimination) of the cent.
2) Elimination of the $1 FRN, to be replaced by coins within two years of passage. Interestingly, there's a provision to periodically print $1 FRN's for numismatic purposes.

S. 759 - Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act of 2017

Short Version:
1) A 10 year suspension of the production of the cent (except for numismatic versions). This would be reviewed after three years to see the effect of the elimination.
2) Change of composition of the nickel from 75% copper/25% nickel to 80% copper/20% nickel.
3) The same elimination clause of the $1 FRN as in the House Bill.

djm

The two bills are close enough that a compromise version should pass. Congress is so busy with Healthcare and Tax reform they will never get to this type of stuff.

ColonelJessup

They could pass this one this calendar year. Trade a vote for a Post Office or somesuch.

WillieBoyd2

This is the Senator McCain bill of March 31, 2017

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/11696244

oih82w8

Second verse, same as the first...that dog won't hunt.

ricko

With all the congressional fiddle-farting around, it would be nice to get something done...The bunch of phonies running this political morass accomplish almost nothing.... I would love to see the cent and dollar bill eliminated as these proposals indicate.... However, I doubt if they will even get out of committee. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

Politics as usual .... Which basically means " we are still sitting here with our heads up our tails ".

19Lyds

I like the idea of eliminating the FRN except for certain numismatic purposes and if our current prexy is half the man he say he is, he'll sign this one if it rolls around.

Getting the House on board might be a different story.

Too often and with negative long term results, the KISFTS rule usually wins out.

EagleEye

@CoinsAndMoreCoins said:
I am of the opinion that many do not realize the foreign corporation that prints currency is at most a quasi-government agency.

The Constitution only gave congress the power to mint money, intended to have intrinsic value, not print it and not out of thin air, and certainly not do what took place during the New Deal.

The United States mint is not owned by the the Federal Reserve and I'm of the opinion they do mint Constitutional money with the penny and nickel being the only two being close to having face intrinsic value.

From what the mint publishes, they are losing money on zinc pennies and cupronickels.

To that end, getting rid of the penny is a bad idea, if anything, making them 100% copper and our clad coins silver, along with including gold coins....... to ultimately say good bye to Debt Notes, would be a much better idea.

And maybe Reinstating the Glass Stegal with some common sense taking place at a Constitutional Convention that reigns in crony capitalism and outlaws the corrupting influences of money in politics like Citizen's United and everything similar to it but more subtle.

I'm not opposed to capitalism as long as our elected meat puppets aren't for sale and actually represent people and not money interests.

We could all probably benefit as well from adding more "political parties" and restoring Congressional Apportionment back to a Constitutional 35,000 to 1 instead of nearly 1,000,000 to 1.

This bi-party thing was a brilliant scheme for sure.

Congress has the power to spend money, not "Mint" money. They can raise the amount of debt the Government can borrow, and they borrow it form the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve creates money by buying the Government debt, but it is not "minted" out of thin air. If it were, it would not be debt, it would be a gift. The Government pays interest.

It makes no bit of difference what the intrinsic value of the coins are. It is the face value which defines the value when using a coin to pay for things. This has been true ever since 1853, when the US eliminated free coinage of bullion from the public into coins. Since then the Mint bought silver and gold at market and made it into coins. Sometimes the metal was close to the face value, like gold coins, and sometimes the value was very different, like silver at 35c/oz in the 1930's. The only exceptions are the Trade Dollar and pre-1857 copper, which had no Legal Tender status until 1965.

The amount of money lost on the cent and nickel are a small fraction of the total seigniorage the mint makes. It is not a big deal in the scheme of things.

Get rid of the debt and you get rid of the robust economy we have had since the 1940's. No mortgages, no cars, no credit cards. Save to buy, instead of buy and pay off. Is that what you want? The error is that since the 1980's the Government has borrowed and not repaid. Politicians promise lower taxes. Great, but what about paying back? In the 1950's the tax rate was as high as 90%. This was done to pay back the WW2 debt. We don't do that any more. I don't think anyone could get elected with a 1950's style tax plan.

You are correct that money in politics is corrupting. The Transcontinental Railroad could not have been built without it.

I think the cent should be changed to pre-1982 bronze composition and only sold to collectors in Mint sets, Proof sets and in bulk, not for circulation.

EagleEye

Yes, and changed after the creation of the Federal Reserve.

kiyote

I can't think of a single person who would miss the penny. It's all special interest groups that profit from them being minted that want to keep it.