Common Cents Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate those comments by the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Common Cents Act. This bill has been over a year in the making with my colleagues Mrs. McClain and Mr. Garcia from California, and I am proud of the product that we put forward today.

The 1 cent piece, or the penny as it is commonly known, does indeed cost almost 4 cents to produce, and 2024 was the 19th consecutive year the U.S. Government lost money keeping the 1 cent piece in circulation.

That is why this year, the President rightly ordered the Department of the Treasury to stop wasting hard-earned taxpayer money to produce the coin and why we are excited to move forward in codifying this action.

The Common Cents Act also gives flexibility to the Mint to produce a nickel with cheaper materials. In 1866, Congress mandated the nickel be produced from an alloy of copper and nickel, and we haven't updated the composition since. This bill gives the Mint the flexibility to produce a cheaper coin, while retaining Congress' responsibility of coining money.

Finally, the bill provides certainty for businesses in their cash transactions with customers without mandating price controls from the government.

We are also proud to boast the endorsements of the National Retail Federation, the National Grocers Association, the United Steelworkers International Union, and the American Bankers Association, among many others.

I must take one moment and note with the passing of the 1 cent piece, it is a coin that was mandated in the 1792 Mint Act, a coin that when it was originally produced in 1793 by the United States Mint in that very fledgling facility in Philadelphia, represented 1 cent of pure copper.

Over time, with inflation and the changing consumer patterns, we went to the smaller 1-cent piece we now use in 1857. Now, all of this time later, the 1-cent piece has passed its prime and time.

Yet, it was a coin that was important to commerce from the founding of the country. It was an important coin because every American at least had a few cents in their pocket, even in the toughest times, over the last 200 years.

Now we move forward. Again, I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on the Financial Services Committee for making these wise decisions in codifying it.

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