US lawmakers pass a major bill modernizing payments, establishing cash rounding rules for pennies, and blocking a direct federal digital currency.
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives has passed key financial legislation aimed at modernizing domestic payment systems, establishing national cash-rounding guidelines, and setting formal boundaries around federal digital currency authorities. The votes address two distinct operational challenges in the financial ecosystem: managing the physical cash supply amid the retirement of the penny, and regulating the future of digital transactions. Lawmakers cleared the Common Cents Act to establish a standardized framework for cash transactions. The bipartisan bill addresses practical hurdles for physical retailers following the U.S. Mint’s formal termination of general circulation penny production. Because manufacturing the one-cent coin cost roughly triple its face value, federal authorities halted production to save an estimated $56 million annually in material expenses. However, the declining supply of physical pennies created administrative friction for merchants and independent supermarkets managing exact change.
Rounding Rules for Cash Transactions