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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump pushes $1,000 ‘Trump accounts' for babies
As Republicans' massive tax and spending cut bill makes its way through the Senate, President Donald Trump on Monday touted a provision in the measure that would provide every child born in the United States with a $1,000 investment account. Dubbed 'Trump accounts,' the tax-deferred investment accounts would be set up for children born in the U.S. after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029 — covering the majority of Trump's second term. The accounts will, over the course of a child's first 18 years, track the overall stock market, and parents are allowed to contribute up to $5,000 a year to the account. The accounts will be controlled by the child's guardians or parents. Once an account holder turns 18, they can cash out and use the funds, which will be taxed as long-term capital gains, for limited purposes: they can pay for college or a job training program, open a small business or make a down payment on a first home. If the money is spent on anything else, it will be taxed as ordinary income. 'This is a pro-family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation, and they'll really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers in the economies into the future,' Trump said Monday. Trump promoted the program as a pro-family, pro-child initiative at the same time his administration and congressional Republicans face criticism from Democrats over cuts that the tax, spending and immigration bill would make to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Democrats argue the reductions would leave millions of American children and families without proper health care or nutritional benefits. Trump appeared at a White House roundtable that featured leading CEOs, including Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Dell said his company would match the government's $1,000 seed money in the accounts of their employees' new children. At the event, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who shepherded the tax and spending cuts bill through the House last month, said the program is a 'transformative policy that gives every eligible American child a financial head start from day one.' 'If you have a 401(k), you understand the power of investing early for the future,' Johnson said at the White House. Trump accounts were originally introduced under the 'MAGA Act' — short for 'Money Accounts for Growth and Advancement' — by Rep. Blake D. Moore (R-Utah) in May. The proposal adopted Trump's name before it was incorporated in the House Republican version of the bill, which the Senate is working on. While Trump and Johnson encouraged Senate Republicans on Monday to keep the program in the bill, it is unclear if the proposal will remain. Already, fiscally conservative Republicans in the Senate have complained that the bill doesn't do enough to cut spending, and they are looking to make substantial revisions in the House package. Republicans have not released any cost estimates for the program. But with about 3.6 million babies born in the U.S. each year, the cost could exceed $3 billion annually. The One Big Beautiful Bill — as Trump and Republicans have dubbed the tax and spending cut package — is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Trump program is similar to 'baby bond' programs run in California, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., which give some newborns investment accounts. However, while those local programs were created to reduce the wealth gap by supporting children in need or lower-income families, Trump accounts will be made available to Americans regardless of their socioeconomic status. To open a Trump account for their child, at least one of the parents will be required to have a Social Security number with work authorizations — leaving some U.S.-born children of immigrants out of the program. Economist Darrick Hamilton — who conceptualized the idea of baby bonds — told The Washington Post that Republicans' program will probably 'enhance inequality' by 'directing our public resources towards an already affluent class while at the same time, imposing … mean-spirited cuts to those who need the most.' 'It's a bad idea co-opting a good idea in both rhetoric and design,' Hamilton said. Other critics of the program said American children in poverty would be better off if congressional Republicans did not make major cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The current tax and spending bill would make significant cuts to both programs. 'Feel like low-income families would prefer their assistance buying groceries not get cut, but that's just me,' said Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senior Director Brendan Duke on X.
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Trump reveals how Americans can score a free $1,000 'MAGA baby account'
President Donald Trump promoted a key aspect of his 'big beautiful bill' as the Senate continues to debate the legislation: $1,000 investment accounts for babies born during his tenure in office. The 'Trump accounts' will be given to every U.S. citizen born after December 31, 2024, and before January 1, 2029. The government's $1,000 contribution would be placed in an index fund tied to the overall stock market and managed by the child's legal guardians. The accounts 'will make it possible for countless American children to have a strong start in life at no cost to the American taxpayer, absolutely no cost. It's going to have a huge impact,' the president said during an event at the White House on Monday. Named after himself, Trump called the accounts a 'pro-family' initiative as he works to rally senators to support the legislation. It's not the first time that Trump has made sure it's his name that Americans see on a financial statement. He put his name on the stimulus checks the government sent to millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. House Republicans changed the name of the program from 'MAGA accounts' to 'Trump accounts' before the bill's passage last month. The Trump accounts will be funded by contributions from private businesses. The heads of Dell, Uber, Altimeter Capital, ARM Corp, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Robinhood and Goldman Sachs jointed the president for the announcement. The accounts will also be accessible for additional financial contributions throughout the child's life: from family, friends, parents, employers, or other entities. 'It is a pro family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation, and they'll really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers and the economies,' Trump noted. The recipient of the account could access some of the money when they turn 18 for things like education, training or a first-time home purchase. The full balance would be available at age 30. Democrats are critical of the legislation, which they say will remove millions from Medicaid and add billions to the federal deficit. Some Republican senators, especially those who represent states with large rural areas, also have expressed concern about the cuts to Medicaid. The Senate can still amend the bill, which, if that happens, it would need to be re-approved by the House before it could go to Trump for his signature.
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
This Mother's Day, lets talk about why birth rates are really declining
Mother's Day is almost here, and while Donald Trump may seem an unlikely celebrant of the occasion, his administration has recently floated several proposals to incentivize motherhood – or, more accurately, giving birth. There's the $5,000 'baby bonus' for every American mother, free classes educating women on their menstrual cycles and a National Medal of Motherhood for moms who have at least six children. (Want to guess which regime also awarded such a medal?) As usual, the president has offered ridiculous solutions to a very real problem. He's certainly right that every American should be able to afford to raise children, and that programs like social security depend on stable demographics. But of course, every other action he has taken to undermine gender equality would suggest that this sudden interest in the wellbeing of mothers is less than sincere. That's exactly why progressives have an opening to break up what the Republican party believes to be its ideological monopoly on pro-family policies. The roots of the fertility crisis engage the bread-and-butter issues that have long been the domain of Democrats. US birthrates have hit a record low not because the nation has become 'almost pathologically anti-child', as JD Vance asserted to the New York Times. Instead, surveys have shown that would-be parents want to own a home, repay student debt and have money for childcare before starting a family. Yet the average age of a homebuyer has climbed to 56, almost double what it was 40 years ago. And 43% of young people currently carry student debt, compared with 28% in 1993. The problem isn't lack of interest – it's too much interest being paid on record high loans. But most of the Trump administration's floated fixes are unoriginal swipes from the undemocratic leaders they admire. In 2017, Vladimir Putin declared a 'Decade of Childhood in Russia', an innocent name for a program that calls for everything from defending so-called family values to encouraging conjugal trysts during workplace coffee breaks to censoring 'childfree propaganda'. Meanwhile, Viktor Orbán has dedicated 5% of Hungary's GDP to pronatalist policies, which include nationalized IVF services and lifetime tax exemptions for mothers with three children. These men are carrying on an authoritarian tradition begun by the original strongman, Benito Mussolini, whose 'Battle for Births' portended literal battles that decreased Europe's population by 20 million people. That's why those who really care about real solutions would be wise to start offering their own plans, and, in fact, some already have. What the Trump administration didn't plagiarize from autocrats, they took from progressives, which is why 'baby bonuses' sounds an awful lot like the 'baby bonds' proposed in 2021 by Senators Tammy Baldwin and Cory Booker and Representative Ayanna Pressley. The legislation would put $1,000 in a savings account at birth for every American child. The Biden-era American Rescue Plan also almost doubled the child tax credit, which nearly halved the child poverty rate. Though making that expansion permanent received bipartisan support, it was ultimately killed by the centrist triangulating of Joe Manchin. Four years later, Democrats have the chance to embrace a genuinely progressive agenda that doubles as a pro-family platform. Bernie Sanders has long called for cancelling all student debt, Elizabeth Warren has campaigned for universal childcare, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the first politicians on Capitol Hill to offer three months of paid parental leave to her entire staff. The Congressional Progressive caucus has also called for a whole raft of policies that would lower the cost of living, from expanding Medicaid to investing $250bn in affordable housing. They understand that real relief will come not from handing out medals but from having the mettle to fight for working families. Still, even if Democrats manage a progressive populist revival not seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it probably wouldn't be enough to lift birthrates. In social democracies like Finland and Sweden – which offer 13 months of paid parental leave and cover 90% of preschool costs, respectively – fertility remains below replacement levels. Does that indicate the problem may be more fundamental? One sociologist, Dr Karen Benjamin Guzzo, has attributed this dilemma to apprehension: 'People really need to feel confident about the future.' But whether it's 60% of young people feeling very worried about the climate crisis, or 80% of new mothers feeling lonely, or 90% of voters feeling that American politics is broken, the state of the world doesn't seem too conducive to domestic bliss. The right's response to this anxiety is embodied by Elon Musk, who keeps siring children with women he meets on X to create a 'legion-level' brood 'before the apocalypse'. To help avert said apocalypse, what should be on offer are authentically family-friendly policies that benefit parents and non-parents alike. In doing so, there's a chance to persuade Americans that the next generation still might have a brighter future than the last. Or, at the very least, that progressives have a more compelling vision for American families than the one whose budget is about to take billions from children's education, food and healthcare. It's one thing to incentivize giving birth. Americans deserve leaders who will fight for those kids after they're born. Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has contributed to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times
