John - Maryland
Member
WASHINGTON - The House voted yesterday for cheaper pocket change - by making pennies and nickels mostly out of steel.
The goal is to make the coins worth more than they cost to make and save the country $100 million a year.
The unanimous vote advances the legislation to the Senate, but its prospects there are muddled by objections from the Bush administration and some lawmakers.
The bill would require the U.S. Mint to switch from a zinc and copper penny, which costs 1.26 cents each to make, to a copper-plated steel penny, which would cost 0.7 cents to make, according to statistics from the Mint and Rep. Zack Space (D., Ohio), one of the measure's sponsors.
It also would require nickels, now made of copper and nickel and costing 7.7 cents to make, to be made primarily of steel, which would drop the cost to make the five-cent coin below its face value.
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia made 612 million pennies in the first four months of this year, about 40 percent of the total manufactured, according to the Mint's Web site. The rest were made at the Mint's other production site, in Denver. Also, 59 million nickels were minted in Philadelphia in the January-to-April period, or 29 percent of the total manufactured.
The penny has been made of zinc and copper since 1982. Over its lifetime, its composition has included bronze, brass and, for a brief time during World War II, steel.
Advocates say the proposed content changes would push back against surging metal prices and save taxpayers about $1 billion over a decade.
The legislation directs the Treasury secretary to "prescribe" - suggest - a new, more economical composition of the nickel and the penny. But the Constitution gives the final say to Congress.
The Bush administration, like others before, chafes at the thought that Congress still clings to that authority. And the Mint opposes the House-passed measure.
Mint director Edmund Moy said this week that the bill was "too prescriptive," in part because it did not explicitly delegate to the Treasury secretary the power to decide the new coin composition.
The bill also gives the public and the metal industry too little time to weigh in on the new coin composition, he said.
Other coins still cost less to make than their face value, according to the Mint. The dime costs a little over 4 cents to make, while the quarter costs almost 10 cents. The dollar coin, meanwhile, costs about 16 cents to make, according to the Mint.
The goal is to make the coins worth more than they cost to make and save the country $100 million a year.
The unanimous vote advances the legislation to the Senate, but its prospects there are muddled by objections from the Bush administration and some lawmakers.
The bill would require the U.S. Mint to switch from a zinc and copper penny, which costs 1.26 cents each to make, to a copper-plated steel penny, which would cost 0.7 cents to make, according to statistics from the Mint and Rep. Zack Space (D., Ohio), one of the measure's sponsors.
It also would require nickels, now made of copper and nickel and costing 7.7 cents to make, to be made primarily of steel, which would drop the cost to make the five-cent coin below its face value.
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia made 612 million pennies in the first four months of this year, about 40 percent of the total manufactured, according to the Mint's Web site. The rest were made at the Mint's other production site, in Denver. Also, 59 million nickels were minted in Philadelphia in the January-to-April period, or 29 percent of the total manufactured.
The penny has been made of zinc and copper since 1982. Over its lifetime, its composition has included bronze, brass and, for a brief time during World War II, steel.
Advocates say the proposed content changes would push back against surging metal prices and save taxpayers about $1 billion over a decade.
The legislation directs the Treasury secretary to "prescribe" - suggest - a new, more economical composition of the nickel and the penny. But the Constitution gives the final say to Congress.
The Bush administration, like others before, chafes at the thought that Congress still clings to that authority. And the Mint opposes the House-passed measure.
Mint director Edmund Moy said this week that the bill was "too prescriptive," in part because it did not explicitly delegate to the Treasury secretary the power to decide the new coin composition.
The bill also gives the public and the metal industry too little time to weigh in on the new coin composition, he said.
Other coins still cost less to make than their face value, according to the Mint. The dime costs a little over 4 cents to make, while the quarter costs almost 10 cents. The dollar coin, meanwhile, costs about 16 cents to make, according to the Mint.
