Penny debate in the United States

A debate exists within the United States government, and American society at large, over whether the one-cent coin, commonly called the penny, should be eliminated as a unit of currency in the United States. Two bills introduced in the US Congress would have ceased production of pennies, but neither bill was approved. Such a bill would leave the nickel, at five cents, as the lowest-value coin. On February 15, 2013, President Barack Obama stated his willingness to eliminate the penny. Although a 2015 memo revealed that Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew has considered eliminating the penny, there are currently no plans to abolish the penny.

In 1990, United States Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) introduced the Price Rounding Act of 1989, HR 3761 to eliminate the penny in cash transactions, rounding to the nearest nickel. In 2001, Kolbe introduced the Legal Tender Modernization Act of 2001, HR 5818, and in 2006, he introduced the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act, HR 5818. While the bills received much popular support from the public, and therefore from their representatives, the bills were not made to law when Congress adjourned. There are public pressures on many Representatives to reintroduce these bills to the legislature. One such example is the constituency of the 2nd District of Colorado, represented by Jared Polis.

As of 2013^[update], nickels cost around 9.4 cents to produce, providing an argument for elimination similar to the penny's production at a loss. The nickel's face value is also well below that of the lowest-denomination coin (the penny) at the time of the half-cent's elimination in 1857. Unlike the penny, the nickel is also mostly redundant (when exchanging d dollars and c cents, if c is not 5–9 or 15–19, the amount can be given without nickels and still weigh less, with at most one additional coin, than if a nickel is included) and less commonly used; the nickel is nonetheless accepted by most vending machines while the penny is not. No bills have yet been proposed to remove the nickel from circulation.

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