Challenges and Achievements of the Sacagawea Golden Dollar Program
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S. HRG. 107–638 CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SACAGAWEA GOLDEN DOLLAR PROGRAM HEARING BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SPECIAL HEARING MAY 17, 2002—WASHINGTON, DC Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 81–563 PDF WASHINGTON : 2002 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 21-JUN-2000 15:00 Oct 29, 2002 Jkt 081563 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\13HEAR\2003\81563.XXX DORISJ PsN: DORISJ COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania TOM HARKIN, Iowa PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri HARRY REID, Nevada MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE DEWINE, Ohio TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Staff Director CHARLES KIEFFER, Deputy Staff Director STEVEN J. CORTESE, Minority Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Minority Deputy Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Chairman BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE DEWINE, Ohio ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska (ex officio) (ex officio) Professional Staff CHIP WALGREN NICOLE RUTBERG PAT RAYMOND (Minority) LULA EDWARDS (Minority) (II) VerDate 21-JUN-2000 15:00 Oct 29, 2002 Jkt 081563 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\13HEAR\2003\81563.XXX DORISJ PsN: DORISJ CONTENTS Page Opening statement of Senator Byron L. Dorgan ................................................... 1 Prepared statement of Senator Byron L. Dorgan ................................................. 3 Statement of Amy Mossett, Sacagawea Researcher, Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota ................................................................................................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Statement of Henrietta Holsman Fore, Director, United States Mint, Depart- ment of the Treasury ........................................................................................... 7 David Pickens, Head of Sales and Marketing, United States Mint, Depart- ment of the Treasury ........................................................................................... 7 Prepared statement of Henrietta Holsman Fore ................................................... 10 Statement of Louise L. Roseman, Director, Division of Reserve Bank Oper- ations and Payment Systems, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ................................................................................................................... 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 Statement of James C. Benfield, on Behalf of the Coin Coalition ....................... 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Bankers Assail Mint for Deal with Wal-Mart ....................................................... 22 New Coin’s Golden Years? ...................................................................................... 24 Susan B. Anthony Dollar and the Theory of Coin/Note Substitutions ................ 25 Prepared statement of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell .................................. 46 Prepared statement of the International Carwash Association ........................... 47 Questions submitted to Henrietta Holsman Fore ................................................. 49 Questions submitted by Senator Byron L. Dorgan ............................................... 49 Questions submitted by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell ................................ 53 Questions submitted by Senator Jack Reed .......................................................... 54 Questions submitted to Louise L. Roseman .......................................................... 54 Questions submitted by Senator Byron L. Dorgan ............................................... 54 Questions submitted by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell ................................ 56 Questions submitted to James C. Benfield ............................................................ 57 Questions submitted by Senator Byron L. Dorgan ............................................... 57 Questions submitted by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell ................................ 58 (III) VerDate 21-JUN-2000 15:00 Oct 29, 2002 Jkt 081563 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\13HEAR\2003\81563.XXX DORISJ PsN: DORISJ VerDate 21-JUN-2000 15:00 Oct 29, 2002 Jkt 081563 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 U:\13HEAR\2003\81563.XXX DORISJ PsN: DORISJ CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SACAGAWEA GOLDEN DOLLAR PROGRAM FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2002 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TREASURY AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 9:31 a.m., in room SD–192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Byron L. Dorgan (chairman) pre- siding. Present: Senator Dorgan. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BYRON L. DORGAN Senator DORGAN. This is a hearing of the Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government, Senate Appropriations Com- mittee. My name is Senator Dorgan. We wish to welcome all of you here. This morning, we are holding a hearing to discuss the Sacagawea Golden Dollar. My children are now teenagers, but when they were younger, we used to play a little game with books that they had called ‘‘Where’s Waldo.’’ I have outgrown ‘‘Where’s Waldo’’ and so have my children, but these days I ask the question, where is the Sacagawea Golden Dollar? Frankly, since the Golden Dollar was unveiled by the U.S. Mint nearly 2 years ago, I have never received one in change anywhere in the United States. It seems to have nearly vanished, and I re- gret that. It appears to me that at this point, the use of the Golden Dollar and the introduction of the Golden Dollar has been a failure. The question is why and what can we do about that? We are coming up on the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark ex- pedition, one of the great expeditions in human history in my judg- ment. Unfortunately, when we unveiled the coin with the Mint, the new Sacagawea dollar coin, all of us were interested and pleased at the prospect of this coin becoming common usage in our country and we had high hopes for it. Well over $60 million was spent on an awareness campaign and an advertising campaign. I believe nearly 1.5 billion coins were minted. I believe slightly over 500 million of those have never been moved in circulation. They rest at the Federal Reserve Board or the Mint. Around 900,000 are in circulation, but apparently put in places that have obscured their view from at least this Senator and most others who I have asked over the recent months. When you ask the question, have you ever received a Sacagawea Golden Dollar in change, al- (1) VerDate 21-JUN-2000 15:00 Oct 29, 2002 Jkt 081563 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\13HEAR\2003\81563.XXX DORISJ PsN: DORISJ 2 most everyone says to me, ‘‘No, I never received one in change.’’ Some people do not know what it is and it certainly is not in com- mon use at this point. So the question is why. What has happened? What can we do about it? I asked Amy Mossett, who is a North Dakotan, a historian, a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, and someone who travels around the United States interpreting the wonderful legacy of Sacagawea in a way that is quite extraordinary to join us. I asked if she would come and open the testimony here today. Then we are going to hear from the Director of the U.S. Mint, Henrietta Holsman Fore; the Director of the Division of the Re- serve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, Louise Roseman; and the Executive Director of the Coin Coalition, Jim Benfield. Let me just provide a few moments of history. On July 8, 1998, the Secretary of the Treasury accepted the Dollar Coin Design Ad- visory Committee’s recommendations that the new dollar coin au- thorized in the $1 Coin Act of 1997 bear the image of Sacagawea. Sacagawea remains an honored historical figure throughout the United States. Arguably, she played the pivotal role in the success of Lewis and Clark’s corps of discovery and the opening of the West. She was married to French Canadian trader Pierre Charbonneau when Lewis and Clark hired him to accompany the expedition in the fall of 1804. Sacagawea’s invaluable contributions to that jour- ney included knowledge of edible plants, recognition of land forms, and the ability to translate Shoshone and communicate with other Western Indian tribes’ language. On October 13, 1805, Captain Clark