After 232 years, the American penny stands at the edge of legal extinction — not through neglect, but through a rare moment of unanimous national consensus. The House passed the Common Cents Act on Monday, codifying what the U.S. Mint began in November 2025 when it quietly stopped producing the coin that costs more than three times its face value to make. In doing so, Congress chose fiscal pragmatism over nostalgia, while building in protections to ensure the smallest earners are not diminished by the rounding of small things.