Trump Stops Production of Treasury Pennies to Reduce Waste, as Minting Costs Exceed Coin Value – One America News Network
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:43 AM – Monday, February 10, 2025
On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared that the U.S. Treasury should cease the production of pennies, highlighting that it costs more to manufacture them than their actual value.
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“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump stated in a Truth Social post. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s eliminate the waste from our nation’s budget, even if it’s just a penny at a time,” he added.
This announcement comes in the wake of a report from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, revealing the financial losses incurred from penny production.
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023. The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, accounting for about 40% of the 11.4 billion coins produced for circulation,” DOGE mentioned in a post on X last month.
The United States Mint, which operates under the U.S. Department of Treasury, is responsible for creating the nation’s coinage. The bureau reported a loss of $85.3 million on the approximately 3.2 billion pennies lost during the 2024 fiscal year.
The cost incurred to produce a single penny stands at $0.037, nearly tripling its actual value.
Trump’s initiative to end penny production has found favor with the American public, as a poll conducted in 2022 indicated that 58% of voters support such a move.
This latest effort to reduce federal expenditure aligns with DOGE’s ongoing mission to eliminate unnecessary costs, as the agency also considers auditing the Pentagon and the Federal Reserve.
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