WASHINGTON — A bipartisan task force chaired by former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici and former Congressional Budget Office Director Dr. Alice Rivlin has called for the dollar note to be replaced by the dollar coin in its report on bipartisan proposals to address the federal debt.
The Government Accountability Office has recommended this modernization of one-dollar currency eight times in the last 20 years due to the estimated budget savings of at least $4.4 billion.
“The goal of this task force has been to identify bipartisan proposals to address our country’s growing federal debt. Modernizing our one-dollar currency is a simple, common sense measure that I have long supported because of the billions in savings it offers the federal government,” says Domenici.
The 2012 update to the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force Plan 2.0 argues that, “Many other programs run on autopilot, with no recurring oversight by Congress. We propose reforms listed below to constrain the growth of these programs and improve their effectiveness…”
Included in that list was the recommendation to “Cease production of dollar bills and the one-cent piece, while increasing production of dollar coins.”
“The Domenici-Rivlin task force’s endorsement of the dollar coin recognizes how this simple change could bring significant savings to the government,” says former Congressman Tim Penny, who co-chairs the Dollar Coin Alliance, a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies, and labor groups.
When people are informed about the potential budget savings via national newspaper endorsements, congressional support and public opinion polling, “they strongly favor eliminating the note in favor of the coin,” he says.
