Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 2:30 pm, 2128 Rayburn House Office Building

 Hearing to Evaluate Metallic Composition of U.S. Coins, Initiative to Save Taxpayers Millions

Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology, today announced that the subcommittee will hold a hearing to consider implications of providing alternative, lower-cost metals for the penny and nickel.

"This hearing provides the subcommittee an opportunity to closely examine measures that could save taxpayers well over $100 million annually by restoring a proportionate economic relationship between each coin's metal worth and its face value," Rep. Gutierrez said.

This hearing is particularly timely as the global demand and price of core metals continues to rise. Since March of 2003, demand has driven up the price of copper and nickel by 300 percent and of zinc by 450 percent. Under current coin compositions, the U.S. Treasury spends 1.7 cents to make a penny and 10 cents to make a nickel, resulting in more than a $100 million loss to taxpayers in 2007 alone. The hearing will consider legislation to authorize a change in the metallic content of coins. By simply reducing production costs to face value, these changes would generate an annual savings of nearly $60 million for the penny and an additional $60 million for the nickel.