The Obama administration's plan to suspend mass production of $1 coins as a money-saving move is being panned by the Dollar Coin Alliance. The group made up of labor, transit and good government groups is arguing for an end to the paper dollar bill,
The Washington Post’s blog the Federal Eye reported.
The administration claims cutting back on the dollar coin would save $50 million a year. The Treasury Department notes that some $1.4 billion of the unused coins are sitting in Federal Reserve vaults for lack of demand, the Post reported.
However, Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste and a member of the Dollar Coin Alliance, tells the Post that if “the administration really wants to save taxpayers money, they’ll heed the advice of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, which has been advocating the elimination of the $1 note for 20 years.”
The GAO reports that switching from paper money, which has a life span of about 3-1/2 years, to coins, which last indefinitely, could save $184 million a year and some $5.5 billion over the next 30 years.
A Treasury Department spokesman said that it was up to Congress whether the dollar bill should be eliminated, the Post reported.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.