Not to be outdone, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA12) with co-sponsor Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO2) introduced their own bill in the House of Representatives to end the Presidential $1 Coin Program. On the same day Sens. Vitter and DeMint introduced their bill, Speier and Polis introduced H.R. 2593, Wasteful Presidential Coin Act of 2011.

Don’t you love the way congress can editorialize in what is supposed to be serious laws?

But wait, there’s more!

The bill is essentially the same as the Senate version. However, in an attempt to become managers of the Federal Reserve coin rooms, Reps. Speier and Polis has added a new section to their version of the bill:

SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON OVERPRODUCTION OF $1 COINS.

Section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(w) Restriction on Overproduction of $1 Coins- Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no $1 coin may be minted or issued under this section during any period in which the number of $1 coins issued, but not in circulation, is more than 10 percent of the number of $1 coins in circulation.’.

What Speier and Polis is saying is that they know better than the Federal Reserve on how to manage the coins in their possession. Should the Federal Reserve find that in the future they want to add stock to their coin rooms, like when congress actually does the right thing and end the printing of the $1 federal reserve note, the Federal Reserve could find itself in a shortage situation in trying to comply with the law.

This is the type of legal provision that has the potential to create unintended consequences. Further, I do not think that congress should manage the cash operations of the Federal Reserve. They can barely manage the nation’s budget, I do not want these people trying to manage the Fed.

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