Thursday: Financial Services Subcommittee To Hold Hearing on the Future of U.S. Currency

For Immediate Release
Contact: Bryan DeAngelis
bdeangelis@asgk.com
202-674-9215

WASHINGTON – A House Financial Services subcommittee will hold a hearing tomorrow to examine the budget savings benefits of modernizing U.S. currency from the one-dollar bill to the one-dollar coin.

The independent, non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) has estimated the federal government could save at least $4.4 billion by moving to the dollar coin, a move they have recommended to Congress seven times in the past 22 years. Bipartisan legislation, the COINS Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049), has been introduced in both the House and the Senate.

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 29^th and will feature testimony from the GAO, the former Director of the U.S. Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint. Canada transitioned to a dollar coin in 1987 and realized ten times the budget savings initially estimated.

WHAT:
House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
Hearing on “The Future of Money: Dollars and Sense”

WITNESSES:
Lorelei St. James, Government Accountability Office
Beverly LePine, Royal Canadian Mint
Philip Diehl, Former Director of U.S. Mint

WHEN:
Thursday, November 29, 2012
2:00 PM EST

WHERE:
Rayburn House Office Building
**Room 2220**

 

About the COINS Act

The Currency Optimization, Innovation and National Savings (COINS) Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049), is designed to save the country billions of dollars by eliminating the wasteful, inefficient $1 note. The COINS Act was introduced earlier this year by a bipartisan group including Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Mike Enzi (R-WY).  Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ) introduced the companion bill to the COINS Act in the House with the bipartisan support of fourteen co-sponsors.

About the Dollar Coin Alliance

The Dollar Coin Alliance is a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies and labor groups dedicated to saving American taxpayers billions of dollars by transitioning to a one-dollar coin, and focused on educating taxpayers and policy-makers about the benefits of increasing dollar coin circulation. For more information please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.

 

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