ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997 TAG: 9703070038
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The government may do away with the paper $1 bill altogether to ensure the new coin's success.
Americans kept mistaking the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin for a quarter. But, finally, 16 years after the government stopped minting it, stocks are running low. Rather than mint more, the Clinton administration says it's open to considering a new dollar coin.
The sticking point, as always, is whether to do away with dollar bills. Two years ago, top administration officials opposed the last serious effort in Congress to replace the dollar bill with a new gold-colored, smooth-edged coin.
But, a lot has changed in two years. For one thing, the once-immense stockpile of Susan Bs, bearing the likeness of the 19th century feminist, has dwindled to fewer than 170 million, about a 2 1/2-year supply, according to Mint Director Philip N. Diehl.
The Mint struck 857 million from 1979 to 1981. They proved so unpopular that 550 million remained when production ended. Demand picked up lately, though.
The reason: Some metropolitan transit authorities, including Chicago's, are using them in bus fare boxes and change machines. And the U.S. Postal Service now dispenses and accepts them in 8,300 stamp vending machines.
The other change from two years ago is the ascension of the dollar coin's chief congressional advocate, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., to the chairmanship of the House Appropriations treasury subcommittee.
The subcommittee oversees the Mint and votes annually on the Treasury Department's $11 billion budget.
``I'm not looking to bull this thing through,'' said Kolbe, who first became interested in a gold-colored dollar coin in the late 1980s in response to queries from Arizona copper producers. ``But obviously we have more of a forum.''
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, after presenting his department's budget to Kolbe's panel, told reporters, ``We'd like to work with Mr. Kolbe on these issues and see where it all comes out.'' But, he said, the administration continues to ``have a lot of reservations about withdrawing the dollar bill.''
Kolbe says it would cost about 8 cents to mint a coin, vs. 4 cents to print a bill. But the coin would last 30 years, compared with the 17-month life of an average dollar bill. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the savings at $400 million to $800 million over 30 years.
There are opponents, ranging from the companies that make the paper and ink for the bills to the union representing Bureau of Printing and Engraving employees. They argue that the coin would encourage vending machine owners to raise prices, promote environmentally damaging strip mining of copper and retard progress development of vending machines that use credit cards and ``smart cards.''
Even lawmakers attracted to the budget savings are leery of the projected savings, and some are uneasy about doing away with the greenback that has carried the portrait of George Washington since 1869.
``The dollar bill is a symbol for the world and it's also a cultural icon of the United States,'' said Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, who chairs the House Banking Committee. ``One abandons it with great, great caution.''
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB