Congress just voted to stop making the penny, and the same bill clears the way for a cheaper nickel too.
Quick Take
- The Common Cents Act ends penny production for everyday use but keeps the coin as legal tender.
- The bill lets the Treasury Department build nickels from cheaper materials to cut costs.
- Cash purchases will round to the nearest five cents once pennies run out.
- Reps. Lisa McClain and Robert Garcia, from opposite parties, sponsored the plan together.
What The Common Cents Act Actually Does
The bill directs the Treasury Secretary to stop producing pennies for general circulation. It does not erase the coin from American life. Existing pennies stay legal tender, meaning stores and banks must still accept them. House Report 119-235 spells out the timeline clearly: Treasury must cease penny production within one year after the law takes effect.
Treasury already got a head start. Acting on direction from President Trump, the Mint halted new penny production back in 2025, before Congress finished this bill. That means lawmakers are largely locking in a decision the executive branch had already made, giving it permanent legal backing instead of leaving it as a policy that a future administration could simply reverse.
Why The Nickel Is Next In Line
Here’s the twist buried in the fine print. The same legislation lets Treasury redesign the nickel using cheaper materials, possibly a zinc core wrapped in a nickel outer layer. That matters because a nickel currently costs nearly 13 cents to produce, more than double its five-cent value. Congress wants a coin that still works in vending machines and parking meters, just built for less money.
The redesign authority is permissive, not mandatory. Treasury can test a new nickel if it saves money and keeps compatibility with coin-counting machines, but nothing in the bill text proves a new coin has already been built or approved. Lawmakers left the engineering work to the Mint, a pattern that matches how Congress handled past coin changes rather than dictating exact specifications itself.
How Rounding At The Register Will Work
Once pennies run short, cash transactions get rounded to the nearest nickel. State guidance already spreading nationwide lays out the math plainly: totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents round down, while totals ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents round up. Card and digital payments stay exact to the penny, so only cash customers see any difference at checkout.
Florida became one of the first states to write these rounding rules into law, letting businesses round in-person cash sales once pennies stop flowing. Vermont and other states have issued similar consumer guidance, confirming pennies remain spendable even as they grow scarce at the register. Expect more states to follow with matching rules as penny supplies thin out nationwide.
A Coin Debate With Deep Roots
This is not Washington’s first attempt to kill a small coin. Congress discontinued the half-cent back in 1857 and ended regular production of the $2.50 gold coin in 1930. The dollar coin stopped circulating in 2011 after the Treasury Secretary ordered the Mint to suspend its production. Low-value coins tend to disappear quietly once their production cost outpaces their worth.
Supporters frame this as basic fiscal common sense: stop losing money manufacturing coins nobody wants to carry anyway. Conservatives should welcome a bill that trims government waste without yanking a legal coin out of anyone’s pocket or hiking taxes to pay for it. The real test now shifts to the Mint floor, where engineers must prove a cheaper nickel can survive the same vending machines and coin counters Americans already trust.
Treasury has said existing pennies, all 114 billion of them, will keep circulating for as long as merchants and banks have them on hand. Nobody needs to dig old jars of coins out of the garage just yet. But the direction is set: fewer pennies minted, a redesigned nickel likely on the way, and rounding rules becoming the new normal at cash registers across the country.
Sources:
foxnews.com, congress.gov, robertgarcia.house.gov, grocerydive.com, apnews.com, political.org
