The House of Representatives has unanimously voted to pass the Common Cents Act, which would send the United States penny into extinction.
Democrats and Republicans voted together on Monday to block the U.S. Treasury from minting any more one-cent coins, and to require any person or business selling goods or services for cash to round “to the nearest amount divisible by five for the payment or transfer of cash.”
If passed by the Senate as expected, the bill will take effect one year after. Pennies already in circulation will remain legal tender, lawmakers clarified.
The bill was led in the House by Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
The unanimous vote came after the U.S. Mint stopped making new pennies in November 2025, but the legislation would prevent it from restarting the production of pennies in the future.
Costs associated with producing each penny have risen to 3.69 cents, far outweighing the value they carry. The Treasury stated in a press release that they could annually save $56 million.
The anti-penny vote came after President Donald Trump instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to have his agency stop making new pennies at the beginning of last year, calling it “wasteful.”
By May 2025, the Treasury had placed its final order for penny blanks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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