Senators have spent nearly a week debating spending-cut
amendments that would cover the cost of the unemployment-insurance bill,
but it turns out they could save more than twice as much money in one
fell swoop.
The $1 coin—the rarely used, much-maligned
gold dollar often featuring Sacagawea or Martha Washington—could save
the federal government $13.8 billion over 30 years if the government
stopped producing paper dollars, according to the Dollar Coin Alliance.
The advocacy group, led by former Reps. Jim Kolbe of Arizona and Tim
Penny of Minnesota, is pushing for a switch from bills to coins as a
solution to the unemployment insurance bill's cost-offset debate.
Although
coins cost more to produce, they last longer than paper bills. A new $1
bill lasts only about 4.7 years before being taken out of circulation,
according to the Federal Reserve. Coins, meanwhile, can be used for
decades. And because the U.S. Mint has already been producing dollar
coins for years, it has already made much of the initial investment,
said Shawn Smeallie, executive director of the Dollar Coin Alliance.
"The
reason we're pushing this on the Hill right now is [that] all the
amendments that try to pay for this cut a program or pay a tax,"
Smeallie said. "You can do this without doing any of that. Our point is,
it's in range of the savings and you're not hurting anybody."
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