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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday likened the Trump accounts created by Republicans\u2019 massive new domestic policy law<\/a> to \u201ca backdoor for privatizing Social Security.\u201d Democrats are already launching political attacks.\n <\/p>\n \n Bessent was discussing the Trump accounts<\/a> at a Breitbart policy panel. The federal government will contribute $1,000 into these new tax-deferred investment accounts for US citizen children born between 2025 and 2028, while parents and others can contribute up to $5,000 annually. The funds are intended to be used for higher education, buying a home or starting a small business.\n <\/p>\n \n The accounts can also be used to help Americans better understand investing and serve as a way to save for retirement, Bessent said. Then he threw out a comment that had Democrats immediately up in arms.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,\u201d he said. \u201cSocial Security is a defined benefit plan paid out. To the extent that if, all of a sudden, these accounts grow and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that\u2019s a game changer, too.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Democrats have long accused Republicans of wanting to privatize Social Security \u2014 a topic that sparks intense reactions from Americans who are suspicious of plans to harm the program after they\u2019ve paid into it for years \u2014 and have resurfaced the issue during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just said the quiet part out loud: The administration is scheming to privatize Social Security,\u201d Tim Hogan, the Democratic National Committee\u2019s senior adviser for messaging, mobilization and strategy, said in a statement. \u201cTrump is now coming after American seniors with a \u2018backdoor\u2019 scam to take away the benefits they earned.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Privatizing Social Security would also enrich Wall Street, said Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cRepublicans\u2019 ultimate goal is to privatize Social Security, and there isn\u2019t a backdoor they won\u2019t try to make Wall Street\u2019s dream a reality,\u201d Neal said in a statement. \u201cFor everyone else though, it\u2019s yet another warning sign that they cannot be trusted to safeguard the program millions rely on and have paid into over a lifetime of work.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Asked for comment on Bessent\u2019s remarks, a Treasury Department spokesperson said that \u201cSocial Security is a critical safety net for Americans and always will be.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTrump Accounts are an additive government program that work in conjunction with Social Security to broaden and increase the savings and wealth of Americans,\u201d the spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Republicans in Congress last made a major effort to establish private Social Security accounts in 2005, during George W. Bush\u2019s second term. It proved unsuccessful after sparking heavy blowback.\n <\/p>\n \n Bessent also said Wednesday that the Trump accounts would help address people who are disillusioned with \u201cthe system,\u201d referencing New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani\u2019s unexpected win in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani is a democratic socialist<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen you do this, you make everyone a shareholder,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cPeople who are part of the system do not want to bring down the system.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n This story has been updated with additional details.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday likened the Trump accounts created by Republicans\u2019 massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-48854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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