Every week I check the progress of coin bills in winding its way through congress. As there are new bills or updates, I make sure the Coin Bills in the 112th Congress page is updated. Having not done so since congress went on their summer vacation, I decided to see if there was anyto change prior to their leaving Washington.
As opposed to previous congresses, the 112th congress has been pretty dull when it comes to coin legislation. Not only have fewer bills been introduced, but the bills that have been introduced have been sitting in committee going nowhere. That is until now.
According to the record, the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act (H.R. 2527) was voted out of the House Financial Services Committee by voice vote on July 20 and ordered to be reported to the House Floor for consideration. Although the bill was also referred to the House Budget Committee, House rules allow Speaker of the House John Boehner to schedule it for debate and vote on the House floor without consent of the Budget Committee.
Of all the coin-related bills introduced in the 112th congress, this is the only one that has had any action following introduction.
Other than directing the U.S. Mint to strike $5 gold coins, silver dollars, and clad half-dollars in recognition of the National Baseball Hall of Fame during 2015, H.R. 2527 requires the coin to be concave/convex to depict a baseball on the reverse and have a competition for the obverse. Read my prior post, “A Commem to Take Out to the Ball Game” for more on this bill.
Given the toxic nature of how both sides of the aisle has done business, it is good to see at least one committee can come together for at least one bill!