The White House is walking back Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent‘s claim that President Donald Trump‘s accounts for newborns are a “backdoor way to privatize Social Security.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Bessent meant the Trump accounts “will help supplement, not substitute” Social Security.
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“The Trump administration is wholeheartedly committed to protecting Social Security,” Leavitt said. “The president did it in his first term. He’s doing it again in this term, but these newborn accounts are another revenue stream for young people to watch their money grow throughout their lives and to one day be able to access those funds so they can hopefully build a home and live the American Dream.”
Bessent has been criticized by Democrats, who are underscoring Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act entitlement reforms before next year’s midterm elections, after he made comments to Breitbart this week about the tax-deferred investment accounts in which the administration will contribute $1,000 for each baby born during 2025 through 2028, regardless of their family’s income.
“If, all of a sudden, these accounts grow and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, that’s a game-changer, too,” Bessent told the outlet at an event.
Bessent has sought to clarify his remarks, writing on social media that the Trump accounts “are an additive benefit for future generations, which will supplement the sanctity of Social Security’s guaranteed payments.”
“This is not an either-or question: our Administration is committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money,” he wrote. “This is why President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill gave tax cuts to those receiving these Social Security benefits — under @POTUS, we are working tirelessly to spread prosperity to all Americans.”
However, that did not stop Democrats from hammering Trump and Bessent for the treasury secretary’s statement, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a speech on the chamber’s floor.
“Yesterday, the Trump administration did something they rarely do — they told the truth,” Schumer said. “This is what Donald Trump and his cronies think about your benefits, America — they want to privatize them, they want to give it over to Wall Street. They want [to] eliminate a bedrock of this country — Social Security, probably the most popular government program ever created — and something that has done so much good for so long.”
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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added, “The American people are quickly souring on House Republicans’ extreme agenda that sells out working families to pay for massive giveaways for their billionaire backers. Now that the administration is bragging about their scheme to dismantle Social Security, vulnerable House Republicans who fell in line to support the Big, Ugly Law will lose their jobs, and the majority, next year.”
As part of the Trump accounts, parents, employers, and charities can also contribute up to $5,000 every year on behalf of their children to invest in U.S. stock indexes. Funds can be withdrawn without penalties after the child reaches age 59 1/2 or earlier for college expenses or a first home purchase.