The 2012 federal budget deficit is slated to drop by 0.0004 percent following the decision by Vice President Joe Biden to reducing production of surplus Presidential dollar coins to minimal levels.
More than 1.4 billion surplus $1 coins coins have been produced by the U.S. Mint since passage of a 2005 act requiring their production, at an annual cost of roughly $50 million.
Biden announced the news today as part of a high profile effort to curb waste and fraud in government.
“Today’s announcements — from putting an end to the wasteful production of Presidential dollar coins to recovering over $5 billion in fraud — demonstrates the administration’s continued commitment to cutting waste and protecting taxpayers,” Biden said.
By extension, Biden’s announcement also halts production of equally unwanted “Native American $1 coins,” which are mandated by a 2009 law to make up 20 percent of presidential dollar production.
President Obama was unable to attend Biden’s coin-tossing event because he was attending a fundraiser near Capitol Hill.
The announcement marks yet another defeat for advocates who sought to replace the paper $1 bills with coins.
In March, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the government would profit by $5.5 billion over 30 years by mandating use of the coins.
The profit would be gained from so-called “seniorage,” which is the value of cash that is held by people, but not used. Generally, people store more coins in jars and drawers than they store paper currency.
At the event, administration officials also announced they had saved $5.6 billion from civil and criminal fraud during 2011. That up from roughly $2 billion in 2008 fraud savings.
In addition, officials announced they are working to crack down on Medicare fraud, and have directed companies to “to take every step possible to prevent such fraud.”