The Obama administration last week released its budget proposal for 2014 but neglected to heed the advice of Congress’ own budget watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, to modernize our one-dollar currency. Transitioning from the dollar bill to the dollar coin is estimated to generate at least $4.5 billion in government savings without raising a single tax or cutting a single program.

The GAO continues to recommend modernizing our $1 currency and testified to the benefits of doing so late last year before the House Financial Services subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology. Nearly all industrialized nations have already made this switch with Canada realizing more than 10 times their projected savings.

As a nonpartisan initiative, modernizing to the dollar coin is an issue that many Americans on both sides of the aisle care about. The dollar coin and the savings benefit it offers enjoy broad bipartisan support, not only on Capitol Hill but also from businesses, labor unions, budget watchdogs and experts from the U.S. Mint.

Public polling by Rasmussen has shown that 61 percent of Americans consistently support a transition to the dollar coin as a budget savings measure. The few who criticize this idea will say the American people are against the change. They are wrong. Americans know the seriousness of our budget issues and are willing to consider the available alternatives to put our country on a sound fiscal path.

Support for this modest proposal continues to grow. Our coalition, comprising small businesses, mass transit agencies, budget watchdogs, trade associations and private companies, has spent the past several months educating the public and members of Congress on the benefits of the dollar coin.
Now, as part of a comprehensive approach to the deficit, a proposal to save taxpayers billions by modernizing American currency with the dollar coin should be seriously considered by Congress. The GAO has made the recommendation nine times, and it is time for Congress and the administration to heed their advice.

Last year, a broad, bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the COINS Act. We know many Members of Congress are looking forward to picking up where they left off, adding new sponsors to the bill, and hopefully holding additional congressional hearings to get the facts out about the dollar coin.
Now, more than ever, our government needs to get serious about the federal debt. Why then are we ignoring the billions that can be saved through this common-sense proposal?
Supporters of the dollar coin recognize that modernizing our currency is not the solution to all of our budget and deficit problems. But, we need to make a start with some savings, and this is a good place to do it.

The American people are ready for this change, the business community is behind it and, now, it is time for Congress to get serious about a viable budget savings solution that will save billions.
If Congress wants to show the American people that they are ready to get serious about the debt, reaching agreement around a modest proposal such as this should be an easy first step and a basis for further cooperation.

Former Reps. Tim Penny, D-Minn., and Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., are honorary co-chairmen of the Dollar Coin Alliance.

A recent Rasmussen survey found that 61% of Americans favor replacing a dollar bill with a dollar coin when they learned the transition could save the government an estimated $4.4 billion over the next 30 years. Download our PDF to learn more.

Testimony Highlights How Dollar Coin Will Save Taxpayers Billions

WASHINGTON, DC – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) President Tom Schatz told members of Congress today that the government could save millions each year by transitioning to the $1 coin. By modernizing U.S. currency from a note to a $1 dollar coin, the government is estimated to save at least $4.4 billion over 30 years.

In Schatz’s written testimony prepared for the hearing today of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform titled, “Government Spending: How Can We Best Address the Billions of Dollars Wasted Every Year?” he said:

“Another painless way to save billions of dollars is to phase out the $1 note and transition to the $1 coin. The GAO has issued six separate reports over 22 years stating that billions could be saved from eliminating the $1 note. In its most recent report released in February 2012, the GAO estimated that switching to the $1 coin would save at least $4.4 billion over 30 years, or $146 million per year.

The Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings (COINS) Act, introduced during the 112th Congress as H.R. 2977 in the House by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) and as S. 2049 in the Senate by Sens. Tom Harkin (R-Iowa) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), would require Federal Reserve Banks to stop issuing the $1 note four years after enactment of the legislation or when circulation of $1 coins exceeds 600 million annually, whichever comes first.”

CAGW is joined by numerous small businesses, transit agencies, local and national editorial boards and 61% of the American people in their support of the budget savings benefits of transitioning to the dollar coin.

For more information about the Dollar Coin Alliance, or to get involved, please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.

Congress is expected to reintroduce legislation for the dollar coin amid the debt fight

January 25, 2012

The Billion Dollar Coin Makes Sense

 For Immediate Release
January 15, 2013
Contact: Bryan DeAngelis
bdeangelis@asgk.com
202-674-9215

WASHINGTON, DC – A bipartisan task force chaired by former Republican Senator Pete Domenici and former Congressional Budget Office Director Dr. Alice Rivlin called for the dollar note to be replaced by the dollar coin in its report on bipartisan proposals to address the federal debt.

 The Government Accountability Office has recommended this modernization of one-dollar currency eight times in the last 20 years due to the estimated budget savings of at least $4.4 billion.

“The goal of this task force has been to identify bipartisan proposals to address our country’s growing federal debt.  Modernizing our one-dollar currency is a simple, common sense measure that I have long supported because of the billions in savings it offers the federal government.” said former Senator Domenici, co-Chairman of the Debt Reduction Task Force. “With bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, we are optimistic that Congress can rally behind this proposal and the recommendations outlined in Domenici-Rivlin 2.0.”

The 2012 update to the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force Plan 2.0 argues that, “Many other programs run on autopilot, with no recurring oversight by Congress. We propose reforms listed below to constrain the growth of these programs and improve their effectiveness…”

Included in that list was the recommendation to, “Cease production of dollar bills and the one-cent piece, while increasing production of dollar coins.”

“The Domenici-Rivlin task force’s endorsement of the dollar coin recognizes how this simple change could bring significant savings to the government. As we’ve seen in national newspaper endorsements, congressional support and public opinion polling, when people are informed about the significant budget savings benefit they strongly favor eliminating the note in favor of the coin,” said Dollar Coin Alliance co-chairman former Congressman Tim Penny (D-MN).

About Dollar Coin Alliance

The Dollar Coin Alliance is a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies, and labor groups dedicated to saving American taxpayers billions of dollars by transitioning to a one-dollar coin, and focused on educating taxpayers and policy-makers about the benefits of increasing dollar coin circulation. For more information, or to get involved, please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.

Bipartisan legislation to transition from the dollar note to the dollar coin was introduced in both Chambers of Congress last session. The COINS Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049) was introduced by Congressman Schweikert, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and is designed to save the country billions of dollars by eliminating the wasteful, inefficient $1 note.

About Domenici-Rivlin

In late 2010, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force, co-chaired by former Sen. Pete Domenici and former Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Dr. Alice Rivlin, released a comprehensive, very detailed fiscal plan that would have promoted economic growth and stabilized America’s federal debt trajectory. Since then, a weaker than anticipated economy, as well as political events, have prompted an update of the Domenici-Rivlin Plan, which we call Domenici-Rivlin (D-R) 2.0.

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For Immediate Release
December 11, 2012
Contact: Bryan DeAngelis
bdeangelis@asgk.com
202-674-9215

WASHINGTON –A new Rasmussen national telephone survey found that 61% of Americans favor replacing the dollar bill with a dollar coin when they learned the transition could save the government an estimated $4.4 billion over the next 30 years.

The survey also revealed that 92% of Americans don’t believe a dollar buys as much as it used to five years ago. Given those findings, Americans may be open to replacing the lowest-value note with a dollar coin, as nearly all industrialized countries have done.

Interestingly, the poll also found that men and younger adults are more supportive of replacing a dollar bill with a dollar coin compared to women and those who are older, which seemingly debunks the myth pushed by opponents of the dollar coin that men, in particular, will not support the dollar coin because they do not like carrying change in their pockets. 73% of men were in favor of replacing a $1 bill with a $1 coin when informed of the budget savings benefit.

Rasmussen Reports surveyed 1,000 American adults (36% Democrat, 36% Republican, 28% other) on December 5-6 2012.  The margin of sampling error was +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

This Rasmussen poll has been consistent with the Dollar Coin Alliance’s previous polling. It shows that Americans recognize the need for the government to find budget savings wherever it can and are therefore supportive of the transition from the $1 bill to the $1 coin.

Background on Efforts to Transition to the Dollar Coin

Last month, at a subcommittee hearing of the House Financial Services Committee examining the budget savings benefit of the dollar coin, the independent, non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended a move to the dollar coin for the 8^th time. They estimated that the federal government could save at least $4.4 billion, if not more, without raising a single tax or cutting a single program.

In addition to testimony from the GAO, the committee heard from Philip Diehl, former Director of the U.S. Mint, and Beverly Lepine , CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. Canada transitioned to a dollar coin in 1987 and realized ten times the budget savings initially estimated. Find their testimony at www.dollarcoinalliance.org.

Bipartisan legislation to transition from the dollar note to the dollar coin has been introduced in both Chambers of Congress. The COINS Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049) was introduced by Congressman Schweikert, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and is designed to save the country billions of dollars by eliminating the wasteful, inefficient $1 note.

About Dollar Coin Alliance

The Dollar Coin Alliance is a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies, and labor groups dedicated to saving American taxpayers billions of dollars by transitioning to a one-dollar coin, and focused on educating taxpayers and policy-makers about the benefits of increasing dollar coin circulation. For more information, or to get involved, please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.

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For Immediate Release
December 10, 2012
Contact: Bryan DeAngelis
Bdeangelis@asgk.com
202-674-9215

WASHINGTON – Following last month’s Congressional hearing on the budget savings benefit of the dollar coin, editorial boards from across the country have endorsed replacing the note with the coin. In the last few days, the New York Times, Boston Globe and Virginia Pilot have editorialized in favor of the coin.

From the New York Times

“America’s money is too expensive. That’s essentially what the Government Accountability Office stressed last week to a House subcommittee examining possible changes in America’s currency. Paper dollar bills wear out after four or five years, and replacing them with a sturdier coin could save $4.4 billion over the next 30 years,” wrote the Times.  “As Washington struggles to cut costs big and small, converting to the dollar coin would be a reasonable way to save money.”

From the Boston Globe

“Few countries still produce a banknote with as little value as the US $1 bill. Because the bills wear out so quickly, the government has to print about 2 to 5 billion new ones every year. Producing bills instead of relying solely on long-lasting dollar coins means extra expense for the government, extra annoyance when consumers try to use them in finicky vending machines, and extra challenges for blind Americans who have to distinguish between identical-sized bills,” wrote the Globe.

 From the Virginia Pilot

“As The Associated Press reported last week, Beverly Lepine, chief operating officer of the Royal Canadian Mint, said her country now loves its ‘Loonie,’ the nickname for the $1 coin that includes an image of a loon on the back,” argued The Virginia Pilot, ‘’The switch went over so well,’ the AP said, ‘that the country also went to a $2 coin called the ‘Toonie.’ Continuing to make and circulate dollar bills is costly at a time the nation needs every (too expensive) penny. It’s time we learned to deal with change.”

The full editorials can be viewed on each newspaper’s website: New York Times, Boston Globe, and Virginia Pilot. These endorsements follow earlier endorsements the dollar coin has received from USA Today, L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, the Washington Postand others.

At last month’s subcommittee hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, the independent, non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended a move to the dollar coin for the 8^th time. They have estimated that the federal government could save at least $4.4 billion, if not more, without raising a single tax or cutting a single program.

In addition to testimony from the GAO, the committee heard from Philip Diehl, former Director of the U.S. Mint, and Beverly Lepine of the Royal Canadian Mint. Canada transitioned to a dollar coin in 1987 and realized ten times the budget savings initially estimated. Their testimony can be found at www.dollarcoinalliance.org.

Bipartisan legislation to transition from the dollar note to the dollar coin has been introduced in both Chambers of Congress. The COINS Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049) was introduced by Congressman Schweikert, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and is designed to save the country billions of dollars by eliminating the wasteful, inefficient $1 note.

About Dollar Coin Alliance

The Dollar Coin Alliance is a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies, and labor groups dedicated to saving American taxpayers billions of dollars by transitioning to the dollar coin, and focused on educating taxpayers and policy-makers about the benefits of increasing dollar coin circulation. For more information, or to get involved, please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.