Lawmakers Push Cheaper Nickel Study as 5-Cent Coin Costs 13 Cents to Make
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 7
Lawmakers Push Cheaper Nickel Study as 5-Cent Coin Costs 13 Cents to Make
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 7
Summary
House and Senate backers of the Common Cents Act are pressing the Treasury to study lower-cost materials for nickels, aiming to cut losses without disrupting everyday use.
The push centers on mint economics: each nickel now costs about 13 cents to produce, creating an estimated 8-cent taxpayer loss on every 5-cent coin.
The bill would let Treasury authorize a new nickel composition if testing shows it reduces costs without significantly affecting coin-operated machines such as vending machines.
That effort follows Congress’s earlier move to eliminate the penny after the Mint stopped producing it in December 2025, a step the Trump administration said would save $56 million immediately.
Trump still has not signed the penny-elimination bill into law, leaving that change reversible by a future administration even as lawmakers try to preserve the nickel in cheaper form.