Donald Trump has revealed his intention to halt the production of ‘wasteful’ pennies as part of his broader strategy to reduce government spending in the United States.
This announcement comes three weeks after President Trump began his second term in the Oval Office, during which he has implemented several significant changes.
Among the many orders signed by the Republican president are the lifting of the TikTok ban and his declaration recognizing ‘only two genders’.
Additionally, he has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and established the first US wealth fund.
Trump’s latest announcement involves instructing the US Treasury to cease the production of pennies, as a move to further cut spending.
The President of the United States described the minting of pennies as ‘wasteful’, noting that the cost of production exceeds their actual value.
Expressing his views on Truth Social, the 47th president stated: “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has reported that penny production is costing American taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
DOGE, a temporary organization created by Trump, aims to ‘dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies’.
Trump announced the establishment of this department last November, appointing Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as its leaders.
It has been reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent agreed to have a team from DOGE oversee the Treasury’s payment system, which manages tasks such as distributing Americans’ tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments, and federal employees’ salaries.
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, these team members have had access to the crucial payment system, although a federal judge has recently intervened to stop this.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued the order requiring DOGE members to destroy any downloaded information from the payment system, according to CNN.
A hearing regarding this issue is set for February 14.