enators John McCain (R-AZ) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) have introduced legislation to phase out the $1 bill with a $1 coin.
In a press release, the Senators touted the coin as “more sustainable and efficient” and said that eliminating the dollar bill would save as much as $13.8 billion for the American taxpayers.
Known as the USA Act, legislation that would implement recommendations included in the Government Accountability Office’s annual duplication report to reduce waste and create efficiencies throughout the federal government.
The legislation also includes provisions that would promote competition in federal contracts to reduce expenses, improve the management of federal real property including the expedited sale and disposal of excess and surplus federal real property, reduce duplication in information technology to eliminate waste, and require the Treasury Department to spend less on printing money than value of the money being printed.
Speaking on the legislation, Senator Enzi said, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always been doing then you are going to keep getting what you have. What we have in our country is a huge debt. We need to make changes and this bill contains some effective ones. Senator McCain has long been an advocate for practical solutions to government overspending and I am pleased to join him on this bill. Overspending has put us in a deep hole. Changing to a dollar coin is one more rung on the ladder up.”
This is not the first time that a bill has been introduced in Congress to eliminate $1 bills. In 2011, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) introduced legislation that claimed it would help reduce the federal deficit by eliminating the $1 bill. The legislation ultimately failed to advance.
