Common Cents Act
Latest action. Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Common Cents Act
This bill ends the production of the penny for general circulation, requires rounding to an amount divisible by five for the payment or transfer of cash, and allows the nickel to be composed of different material.
The Department of the Treasury must stop producing the penny, except to meet collector needs. The penny shall continue to be legal tender.
Any person selling goods or services in a cash transaction, entering into other transfers of cash, or paying cash wages to an employee must round the payment up or down in accordance with the bill.
The bill also allows Treasury to discontinue the minting for circulation of any coin if Treasury follows procedures as outlined by the bill, including providing notice and a briefing to Congress.
The Federal Reserve Board must periodically report on a strategic plan for the acceptance of penny orders and deposits at commercial coin terminals that provide services under agreements with Federal Reserve banks.
Finally, the bill allows for a different material composition of the nickel. In addition to being made from an alloy of copper and nickel, the nickel may also be clad with an inner core of zinc and an outer layer of nickel.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on August 27, 2026. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
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Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on October 14, 2026: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Lisa McClain (R-MI) introduced it on August 27, 2026, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Democrat.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on August 27, 2026, 60 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 12 days ago, on October 14, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseMessage on Senate action sent to the House.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action