House unanimously votes to eliminate one-cent coin permanently

Unanimous votes are supposed to be rare. So when the House can’t find a single member willing to defend the penny, that tells you something. The one-cent coin has turned into a national habit we all keep doing even though it doesn’t work. It clutters drawers, slows checkout lines, and costs money to make. If Congress can agree the penny is done, the penny is done.

The Common Cents Act doesn’t pretend the economy hinges on copper-coated nostalgia. It just ends penny minting and sets up cash rounding to the nearest nickel. That’s the key detail. This isn’t “rounding up” as a sneaky tax, because it cuts both ways. Totals that end in 1 or 2 round down; 3 or 4 round up; 6 or 7 round down; 8 or 9 round up. Over time it evens out, and most people paying with cards won’t see a thing. Rounding for cash is a clean fix, not a price hike.

We do have one worry: Washington’s habit of turning simple things into messy ones. The rules need to be clear at the register, posted where customers can see them, and enforced so retailers don’t “accidentally” round in one direction. And the government should not use this as an excuse to quietly raise fees elsewhere to make up the difference. End the penny, fine. Don’t start a new grift. Keep it simple, and keep it honest.

There’s also a bigger lesson here, and it’s not the kind that requires a think-tank report. Americans have real problems, and Congress spends way too much time play-acting. So yes, we’ll take the rare moment when lawmakers do something practical and bipartisan without making your life harder. Now do the next obvious thing and stop wasting money on programs that don’t work as well as the penny doesn’t.