U.S. Mint will stop striking commemorative presidential coins to save money

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the U.S. Mint will stop producing unpopular $1 coins of U.S. presidents to help cut government waste.

During a Cabinet-level meeting called to assess the administration's Campaign to Cut Waste, Biden said the commemorative coin program has been a failure.

"Right now, the law requires us to make dollar coins featuring every deceased president of the United States," Biden said. "They make hundreds of millions of these coins every year, 40 percent of them end up being returned to the Federal Reserve because nobody wants them. And here's the worst part: They're still making coins of presidents from the 1800s, meaning the United States Mint is about halfway through its planned production.

"And as it will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there," Biden said, earning a big laugh.

Biden said an estimated $1.4 billion in dollar coins are "literally just sitting around unused" in Federal Reserve vaults.

The Mint had been scheduled to issue $1.6 billion more through 2016.

"Nobody wants these coins," Biden said, noting suspending production would save about $50 million annually.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced other cost-saving moves such as moving Americans to electronic payment systems, expanded e-filing of tax returns and pushing insurance companies to track abuse of painkillers more closely to cut down on emergency room visits for overdoses.

Federal agencies have until March to present "detailed, specific" reports on plans to cut 20 percent in spending on travel, conferences and "swag," Biden said.

Significant progress has been made in cracking down on fraud, Biden said, noting the Justice Department recovered more than $5.6 billion this year, up 167 percent from 2008.