Joel Hefley: “those redesigned $50 bills are hot off the Bureau of Printing and Engraving presses. But what are we going to do with…”

“those redesigned $50 bills are hot off the Bureau of Printing and Engraving presses. But what are we going to do with the more than $217 million in printing errors? That is right, many bills were rejected by the Federal Reserve because the fine concentric lines surrounding the portrait of Ulysses S. Grant were broken. This may seem like a minor flaw to some, but it is a major problem because the Treasury spent $15 million on an international education campaign touting the lines as a special feature added to thwart counterfeiters. Most likely the only option for the Treasury Department is to destroy the flawed notes and start over. This will cost the taxpayers at least $16.3 million, $8.7 million for the misprinted bills, $360,000 to destroy them, and $7.2 million to reprint them. If that is not bad enough, the Bureau of Printing and Engraving most recently purchased $50 million in printing equipment that it did not install in its Washington facility because they would have to have major renovation at that facility. The Bureau of Printing and Engraving gets my 'Porker of the Week' award.”