December 13, 2011 2:45 PM

Obama administration halts production of $1 presidential coin

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
Obama Administration

The George Washington presidential dollar coin, issued in 2007.

(Credit: U.S. Mint)

The Obama administration announced today that it's suspending the production of presidential dollar coins as part of its efforts to cut government waste.

Officials said today they expect to save at least $50 million per year in production and storage costs for currency that apparently no one wants to use: More than 40 percent of the $1 coins issued by the U.S. Mint have been returned to the Federal Reserve, leaving the Fed with an excess of nearly 1.4 billion of the coins.

"In these tough times, Americans are making every dollar count, and they deserve the same from their government," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a statement. "We simply shouldn't be wasting taxpayer money on money that taxpayers aren't using."

The 2005 Presidential $1 Coin Act requires the U.S. Mint issue new presidential $1 Coins with the likeness of every deceased president. Until today, the Mint was on pace to produce an additional 1.6 billion $1 coins through 2016, even though the current excess should meet demands for the coins for more than a decade.

The law still requires some coins to be produced, but the administration will only make enough to be sold to collectors.

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office reported in March that the government would actually save $5.5 billion over 30 years by replacing dollar bills with dollar coins, but the GAO noted that polls in the past decade found that the public doesn't support the idea.

Dollar coins are more expensive to make but last much longer than the paper bills, which last an average of 40 months, the GAO reports. The presidential dollar coin series is just one of the dollar-coin designs in circulation: the Eisenhower coin, the Susan B. Anthony coin, the Sacagawea coin, and the Native American $1 coin series are also in circulation.

The administration today announced other developments in its "Campaign to Cut Waste" today, including increased efforts to crack down on fraud. The Justice Department recovered more than $5.6 billion in fraud government-wide in 2011, a 167 percent increase in recovery from 2008.


Add a Comment See all 14 Comments
by daffy64 December 14, 2011 11:02 AM EST
Come on, guys. Ya gotta copy Canada's one dollar "Loonie" coin sooner or later.
Reply to this comment
by jaykay3141 February 9, 2012 7:31 PM EST
Canada also has single-payer health insurance and got rid of confusing English measurements 35 years ago. We in the US still consider ourselves to be "great", "special", "exceptional", etc. while the rest of the world moves forward. I wish more people realized that we can't keep chest-thumping but actually have to expend effort and energy so we ARE great again.
by bigsk8fan December 14, 2011 10:34 AM EST
this was a bad idea. i don't ever remember the dollar or half dollar coins being popular. however, they do seem popular and in general use in canada.
Reply to this comment
by jaykay3141 February 9, 2012 7:26 PM EST
If you're under 40 you don't remember half dollars because they disappeared when (a) JFK's picture was put on them and (b) the government continued to mint them out of silver, at least until 1970. But before that they circulated regularly. As a kid I often got them in change instead of 2 quarters.
by slatep December 14, 2011 2:21 AM EST
In their statement the goverment neglected to mention that these coins were returned because; in an attempt to be "politically correct"; the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" did not appear on the coins originally issued.

Being "politically correct" resulted in these same words being removed from our postage stamps because certain segments of the population were offended by them.

Thank GOD these further attempts to remove GOD from our lives failed.!!
Reply to this comment
by MurdochSucks December 14, 2011 11:31 AM EST
So, Theists put their religious beliefs above the country's well being in protest for other non-theists separating church and state? Hardly a valiant effort. Besides that, if you look closely at the image of the golden coins, you can see the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" imprinted along the outside of the coin, so, apparently you either just made that up for some idiotic religious crusade, or blindly believed some other crackpot trying to pretend to be persecuted for his beliefs. Either way, you foolish.
by jaykay3141 February 9, 2012 7:17 PM EST
I'm sure God cares about the size and placement of mottoes on coins as much as He/She cares whether a football player makes a touchdown. Seems to me that keeping God in your heart and mind is far more important than worrying about little pieces of metal.

In any case the motto wasn't on ANY coins until 1864 and bills until NINETEEN FIFTY SEVEN. We survived the Civil War, the Depression, and two world wars without it.
by Paul Anderson--2008 December 13, 2011 3:26 PM EST
What a horrible decision. Getting rid of the dollar bill would save so much more than getting rid of the dollar coin.

Every sensible study for years has insisted that dollar coins are easier to use, faster to count and would save taxpayers a lot more money than continuing to make dollar bills.

This is nuts. The dollar coin program actually MAKES money, but even if you believe the "costs $50 million a year" figure, getting rid of the dollar bill would save taxpayers TEN TIMES that!

Every other industrialized country in the world, except for Russia, has eliminated their low-denomination bills with much success. Why do we have to go backwards by keeping the dollar bill?
Reply to this comment
by ToolMangler1 December 13, 2011 7:55 PM EST
I can put 10, one Dollar bills in my wallet and not feel the weight. I can put 10, one Dollar coins in my pocket and sink to the bottom of a swimming pool, "or have one pants leg drag the ground while the other one doesn't"..
by MurdochSucks December 13, 2011 8:03 PM EST
Progress, why doesn't anybody want them? I'd be cool with just dollar coins and $5 and up bills. I usually just use debit/credit, anyway. Maybe we could phase out pennies and nickles and make everything in multiples of 10 cents.
See all 4 Replies
by America_is_Great1 December 13, 2011 3:17 PM EST
They sure do come in handy at the car wash but can be a nusiance when you mistake them for quarters and cheat your self with them sometimes paying for something.
I just hope they don't come back later with Obama's head on them!
Reply to this comment
by jaykay3141 February 9, 2012 7:24 PM EST
AIG, that makes about as much sense as some of the other political comments you've made. Did you even look at the coins? Unlike the ridiculous SBA dollar (definitely a tribute to political correctness) the new ones are a different color and have very different designs. Dimes and pennies are almost the same size but I don't think anyone confuses them, and for that matter nickels and quarters _are_ the same color and similar in size too, but no one confuses them either. Canada's $1 coin is the same size and color as ours. So are both countries' quarters. NO ONE in Canada gets them confused ... but of course they're Canadians and different from us Yanks, right?
See all 14 Comments
.

Follow Political Hotsheet

Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
CBS News on Facebook
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...