Government officials, economists, and comedians have complained about pennies for decades. Now one U.S. lawmaker is moving to do something about the annoying one cent coins. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Monday pointed to “bad pennies” as an example of waste, and called for action from the new Elon Musk–led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Ernst, who will lead the Senate Republicans' newly formed DOGE caucus, sent a letter to Musk and the other leader of the unofficial body, Vivek Ramaswamy. The letter called out pennies as one target for cost savings as part of the Trump administration broader goal to cut $2 trillion in spending.
