Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Congress can use budget reconciliation to push forward a retirement savings proposal President Donald Trump announced in his State of the Union address.
Trump said Tuesday night that starting next year, the federal government will match employees' 401(k) contributions up to $1,000 annually. The match would apply to "forgotten American workers" who do not have access to retirement plans that offer employer contributions.
Bessent was asked by NBC News on Tuesday night, after Trump's speech, how the proposal would work in practice and whether it would require congressional approval.
"Well, we can do it through reconciliation," he said. "And again, this is the president coming back for working Americans. Those who have been left behind. The ones who don't have the 401(k)s. Federal employees and Congress get all these benefits."
Bessent added that the proposal would be rolled out "in the coming weeks and months," framing the initiative as a tool to help working Americans "who have been left behind."
Congressional Republicans last year used the budget reconciliation process to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, allowing it to clear both chambers with simple majorities.
More than 44% of full-time U.S. workers, or about 40.6 million people, do not participate in any retirement plan, and nearly 51%, or 48.8 million, receive no employer match, the New York Post reported, citing White House figures.
"The president wanted to preview it in his speech, but I think this is going to be a very big part of working Americans' retirement program because there is a tremendous amount of financial insecurity," Bessent said.
The retirement savings proposal is one of several initiatives the Trump administration has floated in recent months. Another signature policy is the "Trump accounts" for children.
The accounts function as a specialized individual retirement savings plan for U.S. citizens under age 18, with an automatic contribution of $1,000 from the Treasury Department for those born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.
Several major corporations have also pledged to match that contribution for children of their employees, and billions of dollars in private donations have poured in, according to Trump.
"Currently, 38% of Americans have no exposure to the equity market, and we think over time this is going to remedy that so everybody will have a stake in our great, innovative economy and the American dream," Bessent said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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