Washington — Congress on Tuesday approved a redesign of the Sacagawea dollar in hopes of enticing consumer and business use of the gold-colored dollar.
Under legislation passed by voice vote in the House and sent to President Bush for his signature, new editions of the coin honoring the young Shoshone who helped Lewis and Clark on their trek to the Pacific Ocean more than 200 years ago will come out in 2009.
The new coins will continue to depict Sacagawea and her child, but they will feature scenes on the reverse side, changed annually, commemorating the achievements of other American Indian tribes.
"These designs will take the American people to a journey of different experiences of native people by exposing them to their unique histories while preserving the memories of Sacagawea," said Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Mich., sponsor of the bill.
The Sacagawea dollar was first minted in 2000 to replace the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. But like its predecessor, it failed to win public acceptance and today is produced only for sale to collectors.
The U.S. Mint this year has produced about 7.5 million Sacagawea coins. By comparison, through July this year the Mint has made about 775 million of the new presidential $1 coins. Those coins depict U.S. presidents, starting with George Washington, with a new coin coming out every three months.
Among design suggestions are the Cherokee written language, the Iroquois Confederacy, the World War II codetalkers and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe.
Comments
Ragingbear 5 years, 8 months ago
Isn't it great that even though we are in massive debt and our national deficit is at an all-time high, that we are able to focus on what is important? Look at this, what would the next generation be like if we didn't stop and redesign a coin that hardly anyone uses? It's not like we needed the 56 million or whatever for more worthwhile causes, like education, health care, or bullet-proof jackets for the troops overseas.
SettingTheRecordStraight 5 years, 8 months ago
Health care? What makes you think the government should use even one cent of our tax dollars to pay for others' health care, ragingbear?
Stain 5 years, 8 months ago
What a waste of taxpayers' money. How much is this going to cost? Who is making money off this?
Shame on Congress. There is an illegal war bleeding America to death, and they have time for this???
sourpuss 5 years, 8 months ago
Just stop making $1 bills. Then you will see people using the coin. Simple as that.
Oh, and switching to coins would save money, as making and remaking bills is quite expensive, and coins hold up in circulation much better. Americans just don't want to admit that that mighty dollar just doesn't buy as much as it used to.
Dump the bill!
lunacydetector 5 years, 8 months ago
sacagawea-who? i thought those were pocahontas dollars. my bad.
Agnostick 5 years, 8 months ago
Nice to see that at least one person here, sourpuss, understands the real issue.
Unfortunately, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is on one of Congress's short leashes... and on this issue (elimination/changing of currency), Congress is on an even shorter leash... a leash held by a petulant business community that doesn't want to change or rearrange all their little cash register drawers to accomodate the much-thriftier $1 coin that should have replaced the $1 paper note a few years back.
We were warned about this 10 years ago, folks:
"Our prior report on the 1-dollar note showed that eliminating this note could generate substantial operating cost savings and our testimony on the penny showed that eliminating this coin could also result in savings. Last year, we testified before this Subcommittee that the production and distribution of the penny is no longer profitable to the government. After considering both the Mint's profit from producing pennies and the Federal Reserve System's cost of distributing them, we estimated that the net cost to the government was about $9 million in fiscal year 1994. We testified in 1995 that $456 million per year could be saved if a new 1-dollar coin replaced the 1-dollar note. These estimates did not include the long-term capital investments that could be avoided by not producing the penny or 1-dollar note."
http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/gg97146t.pdf (PDF file... might be better to download and save)
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Agnostick 5 years, 8 months ago
"Save the Greenback, an organization of Bureau of Engraving and Printing employees and paper and ink suppliers, lobbied against replacing the paper dollar with the dollar coin.[2] Congress responded by including in the $1 Coin Act (Public Law 105-124)...
In 2000, the General Accounting Office estimated that "the $1 coin's advantage would be $522.2 million per year, once fully implemented".[4] The GAO noted that in order for a dollar coin to be successful, the $1 note would have to be eliminated; a reasonable transition period would be needed; the $1 coin would have to be well designed and readily distinguishable from other coins; an adequate public awareness campaign would be needed; and sustained administrative and congressional support would be necessary to withstand an initial negative public reaction to eliminating the $1 note.
James C. Benfield, executive director of the Coin Coalition, commented on the reasons for why the Sacagawea dollar never became widely circulated. He denied that it was due to the public hoarding the coins, noting that the public also collects large quantities of Statehood Quarters, yet Statehood Quarters remain in wide circulation. Benfield claimed that banks could not be faulted, since few people get coins from the bank, except for rolls of quarters to feed parking meters or coin-operated laundry machines. Moreover, he denied that it was due to public rejection of the Sacagawea, explaining, "The key players in the circulation of any denomination are the store managers of chain restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores and convenience stores. All coins, and $1 and $5 bills, begin circulating in the economy from the cash drawers of these establishments. If the store manager doesn't stock $1 coins in the morning, then you won't get them as change in the afternoon."
Benfield also pinned down the root cause of the Sacagawea's failure: "The chief stumbling-block to the success of the 'golden dollar' is the continued presence of the $1 bill. The lesson demonstrated by our SBA experience, and learned by all countries that have introduced a high-denomination coin since 1979, is that the equivalent note must be removed from circulation. The only country not to learn that lesson is the United States."
Conclusion: Eliminating the $1 paper note and switching over to a $1 coin would save the nation a lot of money.
Agnostick agnostick@excite.com http://www.uscentrist.org http://www.americanplan.org
daddax98 5 years, 8 months ago
agnostick would you please stop making so much sense, people are trying to complain around here
sourpuss 5 years, 8 months ago
Thanks for the facts, Agnostick (instead of my baseless, albeit accurate, ranting). And thanks for the laugh, daddax98... made my day.
jrlii 5 years, 8 months ago
The problem with the recent dollar coins (both Susan's and Sacagawea's) is that they are darn near the size of quarters. Sacagawea dollars, at least are brassy, but in dim light it is still hard to tell.
Make dollar coins out of hard aluminum and the same size the old silver dollars were. Or at least the size of half dollars. Use an age hardening alloy like 6061 and it won't wear the dies much if any more than the current mostly zinc coins, but be hard enough cheap hacksaw blades will hardly cut it after it has been baked for a while. I suggest aluminum 'cause my mother thought silver dollars made her purse too heavy back when they were still widely circulated.
Then quit printing the pesky singles: The things are getting to be about as annoying in the wallet as pennies are in the pocket.
bugmenot 5 years, 8 months ago
Way to shell out the bucks to include a picture to go with the description, L J World.
Pywacket 5 years, 8 months ago
jrlii~ Excellent point--one that should've been obvious to those mopes before they ever stepped away from the drawing board and started minting those doomed coins.
Also...if they're giving her a "new look," I'd suggest an off-the-shoulder evening gown and a dramatic upsweep for the hair. Hats are back this season, as well.
sourpuss 5 years, 8 months ago
Actually, I think the new dollar coins are exactly the same size as the Canadian $1 coins, and believe me, there is absolutely no problem telling those apart from quarters. It really is very obvious and Americans need to stop sweating so much about telling apart their coins. Yes, the Suzie Bs were bad, but the new ones are fine. Just embrace the "change"!
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