Bill to end minting pennies passes Senate, heads to Trump’s desk
A 2025 US penny is seen as pennies piled up in Foster City, California, United States on November 16, 2025. On November 12, the United States Mint officially ended production of the one-cent coin, commonly known as the penny, marking the end of a 232
The days of minting pennies may be numbered. On Monday, U.S. senators passed a bill that formally ends production of the venerable copper coin, sending the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
Big picture view:
While the legislation officially halts production, the U.S. Mint had already begun winding down the process of stamping new ones following an order last year from the Trump administration. In November, the Mint revealed that it had produced its last one.
The president is expected to sign the bill, having previously posted to social media that the U.S. has produced pennies for "far too long."
The backstory:
The penny was among the first coins to be produced by the Mint following its establishment in 1792. Since that time, higher prices and, eventually, digital payments have meant fewer and fewer consumers needed to use them. Meanwhile, the cost of making a new penny continues to rise, and it now costs an estimated four cents to produce a coin that is worth one.
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Pennies are still good
Nothing changes for the pennies that are already in circulation, and there are a lot of them. The Mint reported that it produced 3.2 billion pennies in 2024 alone.
Dig deeper:
The bill, dubbed the Common Cents Act, includes procedures for stores to use as pennies are phased out and allows them to round transactions to the nearest five cents.
Some states are already bracing for a post-penny world. For example, New Jersey introduced a rounding law in June that stores could use. The rules apply only to cash transactions, while digital payments, wire transfers, and other non-cash transactions would still be charged down to the exact cent.
The legislation created a precise formula for how shops would round off totals. Per the bill, totals that end in one, two, six or seven would be rounded down. Totals that end in three, four, eight or nine would be rounded up.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from the Associated Press and previous coverage from FOX 5 WNYW. This story was reported from Orlando.