Bessent says child savings accounts in Trump law are ‘a back door for privatizing Social Security’

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — The children’s savings program included in President Donald Trump’s tax break-and-spending cut law “is a back door for privatizing Social Security,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday.

Bessent’s remark, which he made at a forum hosted by Breitbart News, was striking after Trump’s repeated promises that he would not cut Social Security. Democrats quickly seized on the comment as a sign the GOP wants to revive a dormant but unpopular push to privatize the long-running retirement program.

“Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just said the quiet part out loud: The administration is scheming to privatize Social Security,” Tim Hogan, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message about Bessent’s remarks.

The GOP’s “big, beautiful bill,” as the law is called, created a new children’s savings program, Trump Accounts, which can be created for babies born in the U.S. and come with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

The accounts can grow over time, much the way college savings plans or other accounts do, and the accumulated funds can eventually be tapped in adulthood.

But Bessent on Wednesday allowed for another option for the accounts.

“In a way, it is a back door for privatizing Social Security,” Bessent said while speaking about the program.

Bessent’s comments were striking for his casual revival of a polarizing issue.

Ever since the George W. Bush administration considered proposals to privatize Social Security more than 20 years ago, Republicans have publicly moved away from talking about the issue that proved politically unpopular and was swiftly abandoned.

Democrats at the time used GOP plans to privatize Social Security in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections and won back control of both House and Senate in Congress.

The Democrats warned Wednesday that Republicans are again trying to dismantle the long-running retirement program.

“It wasn’t enough to kick millions of people off their health care and take food away from hungry kids. Trump is now coming after American seniors with a ‘backdoor’ scam to take away the benefits they earned,” Hogan at the DNC said in the statement.