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The trillion dollar coin is a concept that emerged during the United States debt-ceiling crisis in 2011, as a proposed way to bypass any necessity for the United States Congress to raise the country's borrowing limit, through the minting of very high value platinum coins. The concept gained more mainstream attention by late 2012 during the debates over the United States fiscal cliff negotiations and renewed debt-ceiling discussions. After reaching the headlines during the week of January 7, 2013, use of the trillion dollar coin concept was ultimately rejected by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury.〔 Five days later, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn announced that Senate Republicans would end their threat to block an increase in the debt ceiling. ==Legal basis== The issuance of paper currency is subject to various accounting and quantity restrictions that platinum coinage is not. According to the United States Mint, coinage is accounted for as follows:〔(United States Mint FY 2013 President's Budget Submission ) ''United States Department of the Treasury''〕 Since Fiscal Year (FY) 1996, the Mint has operated under the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund (PEF). As authorized by Public Law 104-52 (codified at ), the PEF eliminates the need for appropriations. Proceeds from the sales of circulating coins to the Federal Reserve Banks (FRB), bullion coins to authorized purchasers, and numismatic items to the public and other customers are paid into the PEF and provide the funding for Mint operations. All circulating, bullion and numismatic operating expenses and capital investments incurred for the Mint's operations and programs are paid out of the PEF. By law, all funds in the PEF are available without fiscal year limitation. Revenues determined to be in excess of the amount required by the PEF are transferred to the United States Treasury General Fund as off-budget and on-budget receipts. Off-budget receipts consist of seigniorage, the difference between the receipts from the Federal Reserve System from the sale of circulating coins at face value and the full costs of minting and distributing circulating coins. Seigniorage is deposited periodically to the General Fund where it reduces the government's need to borrow. The concept of striking a trillion dollar coin that would generate one trillion dollars in seigniorage, which would be off-budget, or numismatic profit, which would be on-budget, and be transferred to the Treasury, is based on the authority granted by Section of the United States Code for the Treasury Department to "mint and issue platinum bullion coins" in any denominations the Secretary of the Treasury may choose. Thus, if the Treasury were to mint one trillion dollar coins, it could deposit such coins at the Federal Reserve's Treasury account instead of issuing new debt. 31 U.S.C. 5112(k) as originally enacted by Public Law 104-208 in 1996: The Secretary may mint and issue bullion and proof platinum coins in accordance with such specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations, and inscriptions as the Secretary, in the Secretary's discretion, may prescribe from time to time. In 2000, the word "bullion" was replaced with "platinum bullion coins".〔 Philip N. Diehl, former director of the United States Mint and with Republican Congressman Michael Castle co-author of the platinum coin law, has said the procedure would be permitted by the statute.〔 However, Castle says he never intended such a use. The platinum coinage provision was eventually passed by a Republican Congress over the objections of a Democratic Treasury in 1996.〔Matthews, Dylan (January 4, 2013). (Michael Castle: Unsuspecting godfather of the $1 trillion coin solution ), ''The Washington Post''〕〔Pillifant, Reid (January 4, 2013). (A trillion-dollar-coin idea takes off, and a former head of the U.S. Mint doesn't see why it shouldn't ), ''Capital (New York)''〕〔McAllister, Bill (November 29, 1996). (The Mint Goes Platinum ), ''The Washington Post''〕 Laurence Tribe, a prominent liberal constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School, said the legal basis of the trillion dollar coin is sound and that the coin could not be challenged in court as no one would have standing to do so.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe on the Legality of #mintthecoin )〕 Conservative law professor Jonathan H. Adler has said that he believes the legality of the trillion dollar coin to be dubious.〔Jonathan H. Adler (January 10, 2013), (Is the Platinum Coin Ploy Legal? ) ''The Volokh Conspiracy blog''〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trillion dollar coin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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