Senate Passes Bill That Will Change How You Pay With Cash

The Senate passed the Common Cents Act by unanimous consent Friday. A version of the legislation has also passed the House.

The measure would formally end production of pennies for general circulation. The U.S. Mint produced its final circulating pennies last year, although special collectible pennies were issued this year as part of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Existing pennies would remain legal tender and could continue to be used for purchases.

The legislation would also address cash transactions when pennies are not available. Businesses would be permitted to round the final cash purchase amount to the nearest five cents. For example, a transaction totaling $19.82 could be rounded to $19.80, while a $19.83 purchase could become $19.85.

The rounding provisions would apply to cash transactions and are intended to establish a more consistent system as the supply of pennies declines.

The legislation could also eventually change how the nickel is manufactured.

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With the penny already being phased out, Congress is now turning attention to the nickel. The Common Cents Act would let the Treasury test a cheaper five-cent coin as nickels cost 13.31 cents each to make as of 2025, more than double their value. pic.twitter.com/TxP56qTXGn

— Money (@Money) August 11, 2026

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The U.S. is inching closer to ditching its penny and potentially replacing its nickel following the Senate’s passing of the “Common Cents Act” this weekend.

The Senate passed the bill, a version of which already passed the House, with unanimous consent on Friday.

The nickel, like the penny, is expensive to produce. It cost 13.31 cents to produce a single nickel in fiscal year 2025, down slightly from 13.78 cents in fiscal year 2024. Last year marked 20 consecutive years that nickel production costs remained above the coin’s face value.

Nickels, which contain hardly any nickel at all, are about 75% copper. The high cost of copper was blamed in part for the increased cost of producing a penny, which is just 2.5% copper.

The Common Cents Act gives the Treasury the power to test a cheaper alternative recipe for making the five-cent coin.

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Both versions of the bill call for a “composition of zinc and nickel” for the coin, “subject to testing and evaluation” that shows it cuts cost and “has a minimal adverse impact on machines designed to accept coins.”

Only the penny and the $1 coin currently use zinc, which was nearly $7,000 per metric ton cheaper than copper last year, the Mint reports.

Changing a coin’s composition can be difficult, with attempts to improve the penny failing. Steel was considered the cheapest metal option available, but it would have still cost more than a penny to produce a single one-cent coin. Plastics and polymers wouldn’t work either, since counting machines are looking for metal.

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