United States pauses minting of new pennies

President Donald Trump on Sunday described the manufacturing pennies as wasteful, saying each coin costs twice its worth to produce. In the spirit of eliminating waste in the federal government’s budget, Trump said that he had ordered U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of pennies.

Has the Treasury acted on that order yet? WORLD reached out to the U.S. Treasury Department for confirmation on whether further steps were underway to stop the production of pennies. The department did not immediately respond.

Wasn’t DOGE saying something about this earlier? The newly-minted Department of Government Efficiency task force last month claimed that Americans spent $179 million on penny manufacturing in fiscal year 2023. In that statement, DOGE claimed pennies cost three cents to produce, not just two cents.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about DOGE’s recent takedown of USAID.