Before long, American pockets could be jingling with dollar coins engraved with the faces of Ronald Reagan, Millard Fillmore and Bill Clinton, as Congress considers a plan to begin minting dollar coins to commemorate all the past presidents.
Hoping to cash in on the popularity of the state quarter program - which has generated $5 billion in revenue and turned an estimated 140 million Americans into coin collectors - the House of Representatives began debate Tuesday on legislation that could turn the dollar coin into a collectable. The current dollar coin, which made its debut in 1998, features Sacagawea, the young Shoshone interpreter who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. It has yet to come into widespread use.
The presidential coins would be minted at a rate of four presidents a year, starting with George Washington and working up to the modern day. Every former president, living and deceased, would be on a dollar coin if the bill becomes law. Sitting presidents would be excluded. Supporters hope the new twist would drive up demand for dollar coins that are now gathering dust in sock drawers and coin collections.
"That coin needs some sort of boost to do better," said Rep. Michael Castle (news, bio, voting record), R-Del., who sponsored both the state quarter and the presidential dollar legislation. "The question is, will there be enough demand (for the new series) for a young person to walk into McDonald's and tell the cashier, 'I want a $1 coin in change.' "
Because coins are more durable than bills, the government could save as much as $500 million a year on printing costs if the public embraced the dollar coin, according to a 2002 report by the Government Accountability Office. The government minted just 6.7 million Sacagawea dollars last year, most of them destined for private coin collections.
In addition to the state quarters, the mint is rolling out a series of commemorative nickel designs celebrating the Lewis and Clark expedition.
"We've really seen a coin renaissance in the past few years," said Henrietta Holsman Fore, director of the U.S. Mint. "Coins tell the story of our nation. They help us reconnect with our history."
The dollar coin legislation is expected to win approval in both the House and Senate. But to get to the floor, Castle had to persuade North Dakota, which did not want to have one of its most famous residents, Sacagawea, booted off the dollar coin. The compromise calls for Sacagawea dollars to be minted with the presidential coins - and for the presidential coin rollout to wait until after the Lewis and Clark anniversary celebration ends in 2008.
2. The federal government should not be in the business of making money (as in $5 billion from coin collectors). They have too much of ours already. Try streamlining operations and save some for a change.
I dont want slick, willy bill, anywhere near my johnson or my teddi
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Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.-- Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18)
Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was. ~Will Rogers
Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.
"Shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's 'bold new imaginative program' with its proper age?" "Under the tousled boyish haircut it is still old Karl Marx—first launched a century ago.
There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother to us all. R.Reagan-1960
Beats the heck out of the last two dollar coins issued.
Quote:
I dont want slick, willy bill, anywhere near my johnson or my teddi
I dunno, I can't think of a better place to put a Clintoon coin than in my sweaty front pocket when I'm out cutting wood or mowing the lawn. How do you like that, Bill?
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Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
Presidential dollar coins proposed
