John Fetterman said he will open Trump Accounts for all three of his children during a rare appearance in Philadelphia on Monday. He made the pitch at a youth basketball camp in Nicetown, where the new federal savings program was promoted before its July 4 launch.
The accounts are available to children under 18. Children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028 will receive $1,000 in seed money, and all Trump Accounts will get $250 from a $6.25 billion donation from Michael Dell and Susan Dell.
Nicetown camp with Dave McCormick
Fetterman joined Dave McCormick at the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center in Nicetown, where the two senators spoke to children between basketball drills. McCormick asked more than 100 kids, “Who is excited about getting $200? Put your hands up,” while Fetterman told parents, “This isn’t some radical thing.... Do this for your child.”
The structure is simple enough for families to use without waiting for a private financial adviser: families, businesses, and nonprofits can add up to $5,000 annually, and a portion of the money may be accessed when the child turns 18. The rest moves into an IRA retirement account, so the account is built for both near-term use and later savings.
Fetterman’s break with his party
Fetterman did not vote for the GOP-led initiative last year and had called it a “disaster” for its cuts to Medicaid spending and other programs like SNAP. On Monday, though, he stood beside a Republican senator to promote one of the law’s new programs and told the children, “I am begging your parents to get involved in this,” adding, “It’s about all of your futures.”
In a joint interview after the event, McCormick said, “This is one of many things that we need to do to think about how we address a fundamental problem — which is, we have a growing concentration of wealth in our country,” and Fetterman responded, “He was talking almost like a Democrat... a concentration of wealth,” a rare public alignment that made the account launch feel less like a party-line rollout and more like a family savings pitch aimed at parents now, not years from now.
Trump Accounts before July 4
Fetterman also said he and his wife, Gisele, would open Trump Accounts for all three of their children. With the launch set for July 4, parents who want the seed money and the $250 opening contribution will need to watch for the start date and the account rules that govern who can receive the launch funds and how the money is handled once a child reaches 18.
