Three Republican House members, including David Schweikert of Arizona and supercommittee Co-Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, have proposed legislation to replace dollar bills with dollar coins.
But their proposal faces opposition from Massachusetts’ two senators, who have introduced a bill to protect the paper dollar from the “unpopular $1 coin,” as they call it,
The Hill reports.
Schweikert said his proposal would save taxpayers billions of dollars over the next few decades by switching to a dollar coin in four years, or as soon as $600 million worth of dollar coins have entered the money supply. A whopping 3 billion paper dollars are shredded every year, and continuing destruction and construction of the paper dollars costs the government too much, he said.
But Massachusetts Sens. Scott Brown, a Republican, and John Kerry, a Democrat, disagree. Opponents claim Kerry and Brown merely want to protect Crane & Co., which is based in Massachusetts and is the sole supplier of the paper used to make dollar bills.