President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he told the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies to cut down on costly government waste.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) program, run by Elon Musk, first flagged the cost of minting a penny last month.
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” DOGE posted on X. “The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.”
“The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.” the U.S. Mint reported. If Trump were to move to get rid of the penny entirely, he would likely need Congressional approval.
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