Claiming it will save $50 million a year, the White House today announced it is halting the production of presidential coins as part of its ongoing campaign to cut government waste.

"They make hundreds of millions of these coins every year, 40 percent of them end up being returned to the Federal Reserve because nobody wants them. And here's the worst part: They're still making coins of presidents from the 1800s, meaning the United States Mint is about halfway through its planned production," Vice President Joe Biden said at a cabinet meeting on the White House Campaign to Cut Waste.

In 2005, Congress enacted the Presidential $1 Coin Act, which mandated that the United States Mint issue new $1 coins with the likeness of every deceased president.

"As it will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there," Biden said, getting a big laugh at the meeting.

Due to the lack of demand, nearly 1.4 billion excess dollar coins sit unused in the Federal Reserve Bank vaults. Going forward, instead of producing 70 million to 80 million coins per president, the Mint will now only produce as many as collectors want.

Suspending production will result in "a meaningful chunk of money," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. "We shouldn't be wasting money on money."