The federal government spent nearly four cents making each penny last year.
Now the House just voted to make sure they never have to do it again.
But every Democrat in the chamber voted yes – and that tells you everything about how badly Trump won this one.
Trump Started This Fight More Than a Year Ago
In February 2025, President Trump ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop minting pennies – calling the coin "wasteful" in a Truth Social post that cut through all the bureaucratic noise Washington usually hides behind.
"Let's rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump wrote.
By May 2025, the Treasury had placed its final order for penny blanks.
By November 2025, the U.S. Mint had stopped production entirely.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/2099675466705609029?s=20
Trump saw the waste, named it, and ended it – and they couldn't find a single Democrat willing to be on the wrong side of it.
Why the Unanimous Vote Is the Real Story
The House passed the Common Cents Act unanimously on Monday.
Not 300-100. Not 400-30. Every. Single. Vote.
These are the same Democrats who spent the last eighteen months calling Trump reckless, authoritarian, and dangerous.
They couldn't vote against his penny policy.
Because when the government is spending 3.69 cents to produce a coin worth one cent – on 3.2 billion of them a year – there is no other side.
That's a policy failure that went on for decades because nobody in Washington wanted to touch anything named after Abraham Lincoln.
Trump touched it anyway, and Democrats just handed him a unanimous win.
What Happened When Canada Did the Same Thing
Here's what the media won't tell you: this has already been field-tested.
Canada eliminated its penny in 2013.
Australia did it in 1992.
New Zealand in the 1990s.
None of them collapsed into economic chaos.
Prices didn't spike.
Consumers didn't riot.
Cash transactions round to the nearest nickel – sometimes you gain two cents, sometimes you lose two cents, and it averages out.
Canada's Finance Ministry estimated the change saved taxpayers $11 million a year.
The U.S. Treasury says killing the penny saves $56 million annually.
More than 100 countries have eliminated their smallest coin denomination since 1990.
America just joined the list – thirteen years after Canada already figured this out – and your existing pennies stay legal tender, so the government stops lighting money on fire without costing you a dime.
This Is How Trump Actually Wins
Washington debated penny elimination for decades.
Proposals were introduced.
Studies were commissioned.
GAO reports were filed.
Nothing happened.
Then Trump gave one order and the whole thing broke loose.
The executive action in February 2025 forced the question.
The Mint stopped production.
The blanks stopped being ordered.
https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/2100260170513232362?s=20
And suddenly Congress had to catch up with a policy already being executed.
That's the Trump governing model – and it works.
He doesn't wait for consensus. He acts, and he lets the institution follow.
Democrats screamed about every other executive action he took. T
hey sued in federal court. They held press conferences. They called it a constitutional crisis.
On the penny, they voted yes.
Because the math was too obvious and Trump had already won before the vote was called.
The penny had one job: be worth what it cost to make.
It failed that job for years while Washington, DC looked the other way.
Trump ended it in a Truth Social post.
Congress made it unanimous.
That's what winning looks like.
Sources:
- Lisa McClain, "House Passes Chairwoman McClain's Common Cents Act to End Wasteful Penny Production," House.gov, July 2026.
- Robert Garcia, "Congressman Robert Garcia and Congresswoman Lisa McClain Pass 'Common Cents Act' to End Production of the Penny," House.gov, July 15, 2026.
- U.S. Treasury, "Penny Production Cessation FAQs," Treasury.gov, 2025.
- National Taxpayers Union, "Bill Would Phase Out Pennies, Save Taxpayers Money," NTU.org, July 14, 2026.
- Congressional Research Service, "Proposed Elimination of the Penny: Frequently Asked Questions," June 24, 2025.
