Washington, Dec. 2 (ANI): The United States Congress is taking a new look at killing the one dollar bill, as lawmakers search for creative ways to slash spending.
A new report by congressional auditors has claimed that replacing dollar bills with dollar coins could save taxpayers 4.4 billion dollars over 30 years.
The coins last for decades, but the bills wear out and must be replaced every four or five years, the auditors found, the New York Daily News reports.
It's the seventh time that the Government Accountability Office has documented the savings that dooming the dollar could generate, the report said.
According to the report, now, a coalition of mining companies, vending machine operators and other interested parties is trying to rally Americans behind the idea, framing it as an easy way to attack the deficit without hiking taxes.
On Thursday, a House Financial Services subcommittee held a hearing to explore phasing out the dollar.
Republican Lacy Clay said that men don't like carrying coins in their pockets or their suits, the report said.
And Republican Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) said that the one dollar coins have proved too hard to distinguish from quarters.
"If the people don't want it and they don't want to use it, why in the world are we even talking about changing it?" she said.
An official at the U.S. Mint testified at the hearing that most of the 2.4 billion one dollar coins made in the past five years sit in Federal Reserve vaults. The coins are so unloved, production was halted last year, the report added. (ANI)
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