The GAO speculates that the dollar coin might cause a renewed interest in that black sheep of the currency family, the two-dollar bill (which features Thomas Jefferson).

FORBES: GAO Proposed Ditching Dollar Bill in Favor of Coin

The average dollar bill lasts almost two-and-a-half times longer in circulation than it did at the end of the last century.

FORBES: Plastic Fantastic

Democrats waged a multimillion-dollar ad campaign and lobbied hard for the bill but still came up 13 votes short of the two-thirds needed to pass.

NPR: Mukasey Questioned on Torture