Congressman Frank Lucas introduced House Resolution 6942 Thursday that would swap today’s Jefferson Nickel with a circulating half-dime of old.

In an article Friday, details were scarce because the Government Printing Office had not yet published the bill’s text. That is no longer the case.

H.R. 6942 is officially entitled the ‘5 cent Restoration Act of 2008.’ Interestingly, it is at the top of the brevity scale when it comes to coin legislation with fewer than a dozen sentences. At the bill’s core are three lines that state its intent:

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Oklahoma congressman Frank Lucas introduced new coin legislation Thursday that would replace the circulating Jefferson nickel with a smaller and lighter five-cent coin, once known as a half-dime.

The text of the bill, H.R. 6942, has not yet been published by Government Printing Office (GPO), but insights into its intent may be gleaned from an article and Lucas statement by David Owen of The New Yorker in March:

"I think we need to assess stepping back from the nickel, the five-cent piece, and consider readopting the traditional five-cent coin, the old half-dime."

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