Administration pushes to maximize Trump Account enrollment amid staffing, funding cuts
President Donald Trump’s administration is conducting a concerted effort to boost enrollment in its new, self-branded savings accounts for children — but recent federal staffing and budget cuts may complicate that push.
Launched officially on July 4, “Trump Accounts” are designed to be widely available to American children. Administration officials have explored several approaches to increase sign-ups, including a plan the Social Security Administration (SSA) is developing to enroll newborns in the hospital when they receive Social Security numbers, and proposals for automatic enrollment for children more broadly.
An administration official told Newsweek this week the government is “committed to maximizing the impact of Trump Accounts, driving sign-ups for all eligible children, and achieving our goal of having every American child own a Trump Account.”
Concerns about capacity after DOGE cuts
Some experts warn that the government may lack the outreach and administrative capacity needed to achieve that goal after the now-disbanded Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pushed sweeping workforce and budget reductions across federal agencies.
“The administration would need to invest heavily in outreach and support to help people understand what the accounts are, how they enroll in them, and then how they use them,” Pamela Herd, a professor of Social Policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and an expert on barriers to government program enrollment, told Newsweek. “But given DOGE cuts to federal agencies, from the IRS to U.S. Digital Services, I don’t believe they have that capacity.”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai rejected that assessment, calling it “an idiotic suggestion” and telling Newsweek there is “no workforce-related bottleneck depressing Trump Account signups.”
“In fact, parents don’t need to interact with a single government worker to sign their kids up for Trump Accounts,” he added. “They can seamlessly do so by heading to TrumpAccounts.gov and filling out a quick and simple online form.”
What are Trump Accounts?
Trump Accounts were authorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a major tax measure signed last July. They are tax-advantaged investment accounts available to all American children.
- Contributions: Up to $5,000 per year can be contributed to each account.
- Tax treatment: Savings grow tax-deferred until withdrawals begin.
- Withdrawals: Account owners can begin withdrawing funds only after turning 18; at that point the accounts function similarly to a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA), with comparable tax treatment and withdrawal restrictions.
Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, are eligible for a one-time government contribution of $1,000 to their Trump Account; the SSA has already begun distributing those payments to eligible recipients.
Several major companies have pledged to match the government or employee contributions, and private donations — including gifts from philanthropists such as Michael Dell — are being used to boost accounts for targeted children.
Thanks to a heavy publicity campaign before the launch, a U.S. Treasury official told the Washington Examiner that 6.5 million accounts were opened within the first five days after launch.
Special initiatives for foster children
In June, first lady Melania Trump unveiled the “Fostering the Future Accounts” plan, allowing state child welfare agencies to open Trump Accounts for children in foster care. HHS data cited by CNBC shows more than two dozen governors have agreed to enroll foster children in their states’ systems under the plan.
Federal agencies mobilized for rollout
The Treasury Department serves as the program’s primary administrator, operating the TrumpAccounts.gov portal and mobile app. But the rollout also involves multiple federal partners.
- The Social Security Administration is piloting newborn enrollment at hospitals.
- The Internal Revenue Service processes the forms required to open accounts and is assisting with education and outreach.
- The Small Business Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies are contributing to public information and outreach efforts.
Designing and operating a system that can ensure broad, equitable enrollment is difficult, Herd said, and many of the agencies involved were targeted by DOGE’s cost-cutting measures.
Extent of DOGE-driven reductions
DOGE wound down in November and formally sunset on July 4 after a 10-month run during which it aggressively pursued workforce reductions and budget savings across the federal government.
According to the Office of Management and Budget, more than 260,000 employees left the federal workforce because of DOGE-driven initiatives, through layoffs, redundancy deals and other departures. The resulting staff shortages have already prompted many agencies to begin rehiring in recent months.
The IRS eliminated around 28,000 jobs in 2025, a reduction the administration says cut the agency’s workforce by 26 percent and, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate, created “significant challenges” during the recent tax filing season. The SSA has lost an estimated 7,800 staff since early last year, a figure reported by The New York Times; the agency says it is relying on an ongoing “digital-first” transition to manage workloads.
DOGE also terminated 13,440 contracts, 15,887 grants and 264 leases during its existence. The agency claims those actions saved roughly $215 billion — equivalent to $1,335.40 per taxpayer — though that fell short of the $2 trillion savings goal initially championed by Elon Musk, who played a prominent role in the agency before departing last May.
Democratic lawmakers and independent analysts have argued that some of DOGE’s aggressive cuts may have produced long-term costs to government operations through lost revenue and operational disruption.
Outlook
The administration’s goal of maximizing Trump Account sign-ups remains public and ambitious. Bringing every eligible child into the program will require coordinated outreach, technical capacity and administrative support across multiple agencies.
Whether the government can sustain that effort in the wake of recent workforce and budget reductions is an open question, one that Treasury officials, agency leaders and outside experts continue to debate as enrollment efforts proceed.
