S. 1554 (119th)Bill Overview

Make Sense Not Cents Act

Finance and Financial Sector|Finance and Financial Sector
Cosponsors
Support
Bipartisan
Introduced
May 1, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

The Make Sense Not Cents Act prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from minting or issuing 1-cent coins and makes conforming statutory edits to remove references to that coin. The bill includes a Sense of Congress statement reaffirming congressional authority over coinage and explicitly preserves existing 1-cent coins as legal tender.

Why people may split

Whether cash-rounding will be regressive and how to guard consumers

Watch point

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a straightforward substantive change that specifies a clear legal prohibition and includes multiple conforming statutory edits and an explicit preservation of legal tender status.

The Make Sense Not Cents Act prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from minting or issuing 1-cent coins and makes conforming statutory edits to remove references to that coin.

The bill includes a Sense of Congress statement reaffirming congressional authority over coinage and explicitly preserves existing 1-cent coins as legal tender.

Passage45/100

Modest chance: content is narrow and administratively doable, but stakeholder pushback and procedural hurdles could block a standalone measure.

CredibilityPartially aligned

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a straightforward substantive change that specifies a clear legal prohibition and includes multiple conforming statutory edits and an explicit preservation of legal tender status. It provides adequate statutory direction but omits several implementation, fiscal, and oversight details.

Contention30/100

Whether cash-rounding will be regressive and how to guard consumers

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens50% / 50%
Federal agenciesConsumers

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • Potential benefitLowers environmental footprint by decreasing copper and zinc mining for penny production.
  • Potential benefitDecreases coin handling, transportation, and storage costs for banks and retailers.
  • Federal agenciesSimplifies federal coinage statutes by removing references to the one-cent denomination.
Likely burdened
  • ConsumersRounding of cash transactions could slightly increase costs for cash-dependent consumers.
  • Potential burdenDiscontinuing pennies may reduce employment at the U.S. Mint and suppliers.
  • Potential burdenBusinesses and financial institutions will face one-time transition expenses updating systems and training.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

Whether cash-rounding will be regressive and how to guard consumers
Progressive80%

Likely supportive because the bill ends a government practice seen as wasteful and aligns with progressive priorities to reduce unnecessary spending and environmental impacts.

Concern will focus on ensuring the phase-out does not unduly harm low-income people via cash rounding.

Support is conditional on protections for consumers and fair rounding rules.

Leans supportive
Centrist70%

Generally favorable if the fiscal case is clear and implementation is managed carefully.

Likely to emphasize evidence, a clear transition plan, and safeguards to avoid regressive effects.

Views the change as modest but requiring administrative guidance and public education.

Leans supportive
Conservative55%

Reaction split: some conservatives welcome eliminating a money-losing government activity, while others worry about government interfering in commerce and the absence of rules protecting consumers from rounding.

Skepticism about federal overreach is tempered by a desire to avoid hidden costs to businesses and consumers.

Split reaction
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood45/100

Modest chance: content is narrow and administratively doable, but stakeholder pushback and procedural hurdles could block a standalone measure.

Scope and complexity
24%
Scopenarrow
24%
Complexitylow
Why this could stall
  • Absent formal CBO/score estimate for fiscal impact
  • Potential lobbying by metal suppliers and collectors
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

Whether cash-rounding will be regressive and how to guard consumers

Modest chance: content is narrow and administratively doable, but stakeholder pushback and procedural hurdles could block a standalone meas…

Unlocked analysis

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill is a straightforward substantive change that specifies a clear legal prohibition and includes multiple conforming statutory edits and an explicit preservation of lega…

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
Open full analysis