More Idiotic Coin Legislation

I really thought we were going to make it out of 2007 without more idiotic coin legislation but Zach Space, a freshman Congressman from Ohio, has introduced HR 3956. The Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act has been introduced to bring out one new change, and to include the HR 3330 text.

What did HR 3330 hope to accomplish? The goal was to give the Secretary of the Treasury the sole authority to change the composition and weights of US coinage. Some may wonder why this would be a bad thing and it may not be but let's remember this.

1) Article 1 Section 8 specifically gives this authority to Congress. I am not a scholar of law but I don't think you can change the Constitution with a law. I wonder why no one seems to notice this. If I remember correctly (and I'll be willing to admit if I am wrong), the only way to remove Congress' authority and give it to the Secretary of the Treasury would be with an amendment.

2) Congress seems to be saying "we can't be bothered with this, we have other issues that we're ignoring and don't want this on our conscience." That may be dripping with sarcasm but seriously, it gives the impression that Congress would rather legislate away their responsibilities rather than dealing with them. I don't think there are many businesses where that would fly.

I know that the sponsors of this legislation may retort by saying "we're just trying to streamline the process" but here is the issue and part of the blame lies with the Mint. The Mint hasn't done any research into new alloys or if they have, it has not been disclosed or presented to Congress. That is a big problem. It is exacerbated by Congress not demanding a solution. Its one thing to not be presented with a solution and it is another to not even ask for one. I've touched on alloys before but I'll recap: the Mint needs to research new alloys for both the cent and 5 cent pieces if they're going to keep them around (and you know my stance).

OK, so now we've addressed the first part of HR 3956 but what about the new stuff? Well, it seems as though there is a metals company in the district that Zach Space is from and it is being hurt by the current ban on melting cents (there is also a ban on melting five cent pieces but that is not addressed here). Rep. Space would like to remove that ban so that Jackson Metals can buy cents at face value from the public, remove the pre-1982 cents, melt them down and sell the copper on the market and then return the 1983+ cents to circulation. In this way, Jackson Metals could create about 30 jobs.

That might sound admirable but if you dig a little deeper you'll begin to see the problem. Believe it or not, there is still considerable demand for the cent. It might not be obvious but when people pay cash, they still want their change down to the penny. If a company were to start wholesale melting of cents, they would need to be replaced by the US Mint. Let's remember that the cent is currently being minted at a loss. That means, people can profit from melting cents but it would cost the government millions of dollars to replace them which comes from the taxpayers. Seems a bit odd. What is also startling is how this bill is on the "fast track" so that it can see a vote sooner rather than later. All I can really say is "WOW!"