Production of circulating Presidential $1 Coins has been immediately suspended at the United States Mint. The suspension comes at the direction of Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner as part of a broad Campaign to Cut Government Waste established by President Barack Obama earlier this year.
Presidential $1 Coins will continue to be produced by the United States Mint for coin collectors much like the Kennedy half dollars have been in recent years. New Presidential dollars, however, will no longer be available through the Federal Reserve Bank System as they had been in the past.
Reports and Congressional interest in the matter appearing earlier in the year may have led to the halt in circulating Presidential $1 Coins. The United States Mint has produced more than 2.37 billion since their introduction. The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the Federal Reserve Bank has more than $1.4 billion worth of the coins sitting in its vaults, or "enough to meet current levels of circulating demand for more than a decade."
This surplus was created, at least partially, because of Congressional requirements. In the authorizing Act for the coins (Public Law 109-145), Congress mandates that the:
"Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Secretary shall take steps to ensure that an adequate supply of $1 coins is available for commerce and collectors at such places and in such quantities as are appropriate…"
To that end, the Federal Reserve System ordered quantities of new Presidential $1 Coins to be available upon release at local banking institutions. However, following their debut, demand waned quickly leading many of those institutions to send back un-wanted strikes to be placed in Federal Reserve vaults. That surplus led some in Congress to even consider ordering a halt to the Presidential $1 Coin Program altogether.
However, further Congressional intervention was apparently not required as the Secretary of the Treasury already has the power to "mint and issue coins … in amounts the Secretary decides are necessary to meet the needs of the United States," states the Treasury. With that power in hand, the Secretary and the Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden announced the production halt at a cabinet meeting Tuesday.
"At the Treasury Department, we’re continuing to work hard in support of President Obama and Vice President Biden’s efforts to cut waste and streamline government," commented Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about the announcement to halt circulating Presidential $1 Coin production.
"Putting a stop to the minting of surplus $1 coins represents a significant opportunity to reduce costs and improve efficiency. In these tough times, Americans are making every dollar count, and they deserve the same from their government. We simply shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer money on money that taxpayers aren’t using."
The suspension should also significantly impact Native American $1 Coin mintages, based on available information. Current law requires that 20 percent of all $1 coins produced each year must feature the latest Native American design.
The Presidential $1 Coin Program debuted in 2007 and features obverse portraits of former Presidents of the United States. Coins in the program are released at a rate of four per year in the order in which the individuals served. The next strike to be issued in the program is scheduled to be the Chester A. Arthur $1 Coin in early 2012.
For past, current and future releases, view this site’s Presidential dollars information section.
Why people hate circulating $1 coins? In fact most people likes $1 proof coins, so why $1 coins does not circulates?
It’s good to know the government will continue wasting money warehousing these unwanted dollars rather than have the $1 bill discontinued and get the $1 coins circulating and thus out of storage. I can only hope Republicans strongly back the passage of that bill to eliminate the dollar bill as it would benefit them strongly. By the time the surplus coins are distributed and exhausted necessitating the resumption of production, it would be just in time for the Reagan dollar to come out. How awesome for them. Eliminate the $1 bill…and the $2, the $5, and the $10 while you’re… Read more »
Makes no sense as they cut out the wrong Dollar. They would have saved more had they cut out the dollar bill, but instead decide on cutting out the dollar coin. $184 million > $50 million a year, great backwards thinking by our govt.
http://dollarcoinalliance.org/get-involved/
Yes, this Democratic government really cannot think straight! Cutting the $1 bill would have save billions in cost over the next 10 years. Instead, they want to waste more money in printing paper bills and storing the coins. This saving they claim is short-sighted and misleading.
@Schecter : Done.
Let’s see … we’re gonna save about $50 million a year by making a dumb-*** decision that will cost $750 million a year in return.
If the gummint is too stupid to do this simple math no wonder we have crumbling bridges, crappy health insurance, trains slower than in the 1920s, kids who can’t read….
Welcome to the third world, folks.
What a crock this is. If king barry and his consort michelle antoinette would just fly coach with their own damn money every time they felt the need to waste ours, not to mention queen nancy’s weekly round-trip to and from DC, we could keep both the $1 FRN AND the bloody dollar coins. And tax cheat timmy geitner is trying to stop govt. waste?…what a hypocrite! Chester Arthur, Warren G. Harding or even James Buchanan were better Presidents on their worst days than the charlatan we have now. At least jimmy carter can feel good now that he’s no… Read more »
Thinking of cutting the whole Presidential Coin Program?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Its just wrong!!!
Stop making paper dollar bills.
If they really want to ‘save’ money – stop making pennies that cost more to produce than their actually worth!
This administration is going to make money obsolete – just hand it all out and go away!
The only way the public was ever going to adopt the 1$ coin would be by force. The most common complaint I heard was that the dollar coin was too similar in size to quarters. And go figure…. The half dollar is much bigger than the dollar.
Susan B. Anthony coin was a flop too.
Saving $50M is for show.
Looks like I will be spending the P and D rolls I have for each pres.
Hmmmmm What to do with $1000. Canadian bullion it is! In a vote of no confidence in our govt.
Im sure the price for these dollar coins will double, giving the collector one more thrust up the wazoo!
Gobble up those Garfield rolls boys & girls….!
The last of a good thing should be a good collectible years down the road.
Ok, let me understand this. You have 1.4 billion in vaults that are not moving. Why not stop printing $1 bills FIRST and meet demand for $1 denomination with the coins you already have in stock. That seems like the way to produce savings!
/* The most common complaint I heard was that the dollar coin was too similar in size to quarters. */ A complete canard. People who haven’t seen/used the “golden” dollars are relying on their memories of the admittedly disastrous SBA. If coins are different in color, design, and edge there’s little chance of confusion. The brain compares relative sizes, not absolute (you can look it up) and the $1 coin and quarter have about the same size ratio as pennies and dimes; when was the last time anyone confused _them_? Plus the Canadian quarter and Loonie are essentially identical to… Read more »
It is unbelievable how little common sense our government has.
After reading all of these posts, all that I can see is that the citizens of this great country has more common sense than the government.
I say, fire all of them. Let them see how hard it is to support a family and make ends meet without being paid their salary for life, open expense account, free healthcare, free flights, on and on and on.
Now where is the money actually being wasted.
Government; get your heads out of your butts