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Government & Politics

Congress votes to end production of the penny after 234 years, sending a bill to Trump

The Mint says that production of a penny now costs almost 4 cents and that ceasing to make them would generate immediate savings of $56 million annually.

,   and  The Associated Press
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FILE - A person holds a giant penny at a mock funeral for the coin, Dec. 20, 2025, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Mint stopped making pennies in 2025, but legislation passed by the Senate and headed to President Donald Trump’s desk will formally end their production after 234 years.

The bill, passed by voice vote late Monday, directs the government to not make pennies, giving a legal stamp of approval to the Trump administration’s decision to stop producing the currency last year. The penny, among the first coins to be made after the Mint was established in 1792, has become increasingly expensive to produce and is used by fewer and fewer consumers as digital transactions have become more standard.

Trump is expected to sign the bill. He wrote in a social media post last year that the U.S. has produced the 1-cent coin for “far too long."

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