Each year the cost to make pennies rises while the value of the coin diminishes. It is now at a point where a penny costs more than double its own face value to produce, introducing a drag on the economy of millions of dollars yearly. It is not able to facilitate the exchange of goods and services and is therefore useless as currency.
The last coin to have been discontinued for having too little value, the half-penny, had ten times the buying power that the penny does today. In fact, the military has long since stopped using pennies for overseas installations because pennies are not worth the cost of using them.
The government is looking for places to cut spending, and while they don't amount to billions, it's an easy place to start and every little bit counts. Please drop the penny.