Common Cents Act Moves the Penny Closer to History
The House has passed legislation to permanently end circulating-cent production and establish nationwide cash-rounding rules, while preserving the penny as legal tender and as a collectible.
To borrow (and slightly mangle) a phrase from Mark Twain, reports of the penny’s death are no longer greatly exaggerated.
The House passed the Common Cents Act, H.R. 10167, by voice vote on Sept. 14, moving the United States another step toward permanently ending production of the circulating one-cent coin.
Of course, the penny had already received its eviction notice. The U.S. Mint struck the final circulating cent in Philadelphia on Nov. 12, 2025, ending a 232-year production run. Rising production costs played a major role in the decision: The Mint estimates that producing a one-cent coin has risen to 3.69 cents and that suspending circulating production will save approximately $56 million annually.
H.R. 10167 would make the end of circulating-cent production permanent while providing a national framework for rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents. Noncash transactions, including credit and debit card payments, would continue to be calculated to the exact cent.
But collectors need not start composing the penny’s obituary just yet.
The legislation allows the Mint to continue producing one-cent coins for numismatic purposes, and the approximately 300 billion pennies already in circulation remain legal tender. Consumers can continue spending them, and businesses can continue giving exact change when cents are available.
In fact, the penny has already begun its second life as a collector-only coin. The Mint is producing a special 1776–2026 Lincoln cent for annual numismatic sets celebrating the nation’s Semiquincentennial. The familiar Lincoln obverse carries the dual date 1776 ~ 2026, while circulating production remains a thing of the past.
The Common Cents Act also addresses another money-losing denomination: the nickel. The legislation would permit the Treasury Department to adopt a less expensive composition if testing shows that the alternative reduces production costs without significantly disrupting coin-operated equipment.
The penny’s fate is not quite sealed by Congress, however. Although the House has passed H.R. 10167, the measure must still clear the Senate in identical form and be signed by the president before becoming law.
For collectors, though, the penny may be disappearing from the nation’s everyday coinage, but it is certainly not disappearing from numismatics.
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