[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1650]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 1650]]

                        SACAJAWEA GOLDEN DOLLAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, the United States Mint has done a 
tremendous job of accelerating the production and shipment of the new 
Sacajawea Golden Dollars. The new coin is golden in color, with a 
smooth edge; and on the face of the coin is a picture of Sacajawea, the 
Native American woman who helped the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  The Sacajawea Golden Dollar has been a huge success with the public 
since its release on January 26. In fact, there has been so much demand 
for the new coin that the U.S. Mint has doubled their production to 
five million Golden Dollars a day. By the end of February, there will 
be 200 million Golden Dollars in circulation. And by the end of this 
year, there will be, are you ready for this, one billion in 
circulation.
  This is great news for the taxpayers. For it only costs the U.S. Mint 
about 12 cents to make a Sacajawea Golden Dollar. Then the Mint sells 
the coins to banks for one full dollar. This results in a direct profit 
to the Treasury of 88 cents on each coin issued.
  At the end of this year, when one billion Golden Dollars are in 
circulation, the United States Treasury will have made a profit of over 
$800 million. That profit will be eligible to help reduce our $5.7 
trillion national debt. That is right, the Treasury makes its profit 
from issuing coins, which helps to lower the debt of the Nation. How we 
have allowed ourselves to accrue such an enormous debt is a story for 
another time.
  What I want to talk about is one of the mechanisms that allowed this 
monstrosity to happen and to try to ensure that it does not happen 
again. Many people assume that when the Government runs out of money it 
just fires up the printing presses and prints more money. This 
assumption is simply not true.
  When the Government runs out of money, it borrows money at interest 
to feed its insatiable appetite. This is the foundation of our debt 
money system. Yes, our money system is a debt-based money system. That 
is why the interest payments on our $5.7 trillion debt was over $215 
billion last year.
  Simply, the Federal Government must stop spending more than it 
receives in taxes. Except in wartime and dire emergencies, it is 
unacceptable for the Government to spend beyond its means.
  One way to minimize this debt trap would be for the Federal Reserve 
to buy zero-interest bonds. The process would work by allowing the 
Federal Reserve, or its surrogate, to buy zero-interest mortgages on 
needed State and local government infrastructure improvements. These 
mortgages would be amortized over a period of up to 30 years, depending 
upon the nature of the improvement.
  My bill, H.R. 2777, the Transportation Infrastructure and Local 
Government Capital Enhancement Act, would provide the Federal Reserve 
Board a replacement mechanism to accommodate the needed increases in 
the money supply without using debt money.

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