Congress pauses penny production to cut taxpayer losses on coins.
H.R. 1401 — Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act of 2025 · Filed by Andy Biggs (R-AZ) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill suspends U.S. penny production for 10 years to save taxpayer money, citing the cost of manufacturing exceeding the coin's face value. The Treasury may continue minting pennies only for collector sales, which must be priced to cover full production costs. Existing pennies remain legal tender. The bill does not eliminate the penny or change its value—it only halts routine production.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: halt an economically inefficient federal manufacturing process (penny production) to reduce taxpayer losses. This is routine fiscal housekeeping, not a hidden carve-out or deregulation.
What the text implies
- Suspension is temporary (10 years); pennies may resume production afterward, leaving the long-term policy uncertain and potentially requiring future legislative action.
- Collector-sale exception creates a small revenue stream but requires Treasury to price coins at full cost, which may reduce collector demand and limit the offset.
- Bill does not address the broader question of penny elimination or rounding; it is a production pause, not a currency redesign, leaving the underlying inefficiency unresolved.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill reduces taxpayer losses on an economically inefficient product (pennies cost more to make than their face value). Citizens benefit from lower federal spending, though the savings are small relative to the overall budget. No citizen rights, protections, or access to services are restricted.
Named in the bill
U.S. Treasury, Secretary of the Treasury, numismatic collectors
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Republicans.
- Feb 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Financial Services · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,558 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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