February 12, 2013 – On January 24, 2013 Senator David Vitter introduced a bill to terminate the $1 Presidential coin programme. He had aimed to do so in 2011 already when due to legal reasons over 1.6 billion of these coins had been hoarded by the Federal Reserve Bank creating enormous costs by the necessity of constructing a new storage facility. The large amount of coins struck and not used was bound to the fact that they were issued as circulation coins. In the meantime, however, quantities have been drastically reduced and the presidential dollars are sold only as collectors’ items. There seems to be no practical reason why to end this programme, since it is now fitting to the customers’ needs in quantity avoiding thus additional costs to the community.
You can read an article on this issue here.