It costs 1.62 cents to make a penny.

Statements like "..., it's cost slightly more to produce a penny than the one cent it is worth, leading to a loss of of about $20 million dollars, total, in 2009." are wrong minded. If every penny cost exactly one cent to make, we wouldn't be "breaking even" -- we'd still lose one cent per penny produced in production costs. The cost of producing money compared to its monetary value is irrelevant (though there is a problem if you can extract more than a cent of profit from melting them down).

Seems like an easy way to compromise... get rid of the penny and make a new zinc based coin with abraham lincoln on it that is a 20 cent piece

The real problem is the enormous inconvenience costs associated with using pennies. Next time you get one, leave it on the counter and you'll be money ahead. Never take them and never give them, maybe we can start a movement.

$180K in lobbying seems beatable.