First Lady Melania Trump Delivers Remarks At Fostering The Future Accounts Event

[1:52] Please take your seats, the program will begin momentarily. [16:26] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the 79th Secretary of the Treasury, [25:16] Scott Bessett. [25:17] Scott Bessett, Secretary of the Treasury Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessett. [25:30] Good morning. [25:31] Thank you all for joining us on this historic occasion. [25:34] And of course, let me extend a warm welcome to the First Lady of the United States, Melania [25:38] Trump. [26:12] Good afternoon. [26:14] Thank you for welcoming me this afternoon, Secretary Bessett. [26:19] Since the earliest days of our republic, the Treasury has stood for America's financial [26:25] credibility and stability. [26:29] This very building is a monument of our confidence in the American experiment. [26:36] Today we are adding another important layer to the Treasury Department's foundation, economic [26:43] stewardship. [26:46] For the first time, children in foster care will have access to a dedicated savings and [26:53] investment vehicle fostering the future accounts. [27:00] Fostering the future accounts give foster children the same chance for asset ownership and long-term [27:07] wealth building as every other American child. [27:13] By investing in our foster youth now, we help strengthen America's workforce, communities, [27:30] and economic future. [27:32] Ownership turns the principle of individual liberty into sustainable reality. [27:41] For children in foster care, this is especially important. [27:46] America can offer services, help, and protection. [27:51] But real freedom means being able to make independent choices about your own future. [27:59] Property ownership helps make that possible. [28:04] When they turn 18, foster youth will be able to access the assets they own through fostering [28:11] the future accounts. [28:14] This will give them a foundation for independence and opportunity. [28:20] For fostering the future youth, empowerment comes through ownership. [28:26] This includes ownership of knowledge through education and now ownership through savings and investment [28:33] accounts. [28:34] Education and savings accounts are the first steps toward personal independence. [28:43] Fostering the future accounts help create the conditions where liberty can flourish. [28:50] Success is not about how many benefits a person receives, but rather about how much independence [28:58] they achieve. [28:59] Starting today, the Treasury will let state child welfare agencies and foster youth representatives [29:10] set up fostering the future accounts for children in foster care. [29:14] We already have measurable results. [29:28] 23 Governors have pledged to set up fostering the future accounts in their states, including [29:35] Governor Little from Idaho, who is here with us today. [29:40] Thank you, Governor. [29:49] Now is the time for everyone to act. [29:53] All 50 states should pledge to protect America's foster youth. [29:58] Let's elevate America's children above politics. [30:03] I urge every governor and business leader in America to help fund these accounts. [30:10] Together we can make sure foster youth enter adulthood with assets, opportunity, and a stronger [30:18] path to independence. [30:22] This is a historic moment for our nation. [30:25] We should aspire to rise a generation of builders, creators, entrepreneurs, and leaders whose futures are [30:44] shaped by their ambition, not their circumstances. [30:48] A strong education and financial assets will give them tools for a lifetime. [30:55] Thank you. [30:56] Please join me one more time in thanking the First Lady for those thoughtful remarks. [31:18] Fostering the future is the latest expression of her longstanding work on behalf of America's [31:40] children. [31:41] And we at Treasury are grateful that Mrs. Trump has given generously of her leadership [31:47] to the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill. [31:53] Through the leadership of First Lady Melania Trump and her Fostering the Future initiative, [31:58] children and youth in foster care now have a pathway to benefit from Trump accounts. [32:05] Within the foster care community, these Fostering the Future accounts, powered by Trump accounts, [32:10] will advance Mrs. Trump's commitment to helping youth in foster care build a stronger future. [32:17] Of course, Trump accounts are a historic new savings tool to democratize the benefits [32:33] of private ownership and compound growth. [32:36] Every American child born between January 2025 and December 2028 is eligible to receive [32:43] a $1,000, the seed contribution from Treasury. [32:53] Assuming historical growth rates continue, that single deposit in an index fund should grow to [32:59] at least half a million dollars by the age of retirement, demonstrating that assets of [33:04] life-changing scale can begin with small steps. [33:08] But as we began to develop Trump accounts, the First Lady emphasized that foster youth face difficulties [33:15] that few others do. [33:17] She noted that it is not enough for this program to function seamlessly for some, that the children [33:24] who stand to benefit most from the Trump accounts must not encounter any barriers in [33:29] accessing them. [33:31] So today, because of the First Lady's leadership, we are embedding foster youth into the fabric [33:37] of this program from the outset. [33:49] When Trump accounts launch on July 4th, every eligible child in America will be able to participate, [33:56] including those for whom the state serves as a legal guardian. [34:01] States can also help foster youth to accelerate their gains by directing survivor and SSI benefits [34:08] into their Trump accounts. [34:10] And at every step, every step, Treasury will provide expert guidance to child welfare agencies [34:15] through a dedicated support line. [34:18] Now as we begin to enroll eligible foster youth across the country, I especially want to recognize [34:24] Governor Jeff Landry for his leadership. [34:28] Our goal is to work toward full participation from all 50 states. [34:33] And I encourage every local welfare agency to follow Louisiana's example by looking beyond [34:39] a child's present circumstances to invest in their potential. [34:44] By affirming that the child born into adversity possesses equal worth as the child born into abundance. [34:52] Of course, those convictions have long animated the First Lady's be best fostering the future [34:58] campaign. [35:00] Now I'm delighted to see Mrs. Trump bring that same focus to the more than 300 and 330,000 young [35:08] people who live in foster care. [35:11] One in five of whom will become homeless after aging out of the system, while only half will [35:16] obtain gainful employment by the time they turn 24. [35:20] This will be a game changer. [35:22] Those outcomes are unsettling, but today we refuse to accept them as inevitable. [35:28] Trump accounts will build long-term financial security for millions of children and for foster [35:34] youth in particular, the program will ensure that their futures are shaped more by the possibilities [35:41] rather than by the circumstances behind them. [35:45] Now there is a fitting historical symmetry in making today's announcement here at the Treasury [35:50] Building. [35:51] Of course, before he became America's first and most iconic Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton [35:58] was an orphan, sustained by little more than a belief that his origins need not define his [36:04] fate. [36:05] An indigent boy from the Caribbean could in fact become the man who made modern America. [36:11] And along the way, Hamilton knew what it was like to come of age without the anchor of a stable [36:17] home. [36:18] Yet it was his wife who committed herself to the cause of foster children. [36:22] Eliza Hamilton married one orphan, raised another, and then established New York's first [36:28] private orphanage. [36:29] I believe she did so because of an idea that remains as relevant in our time as it was two [36:36] centuries ago in hers, that we cannot measure a person's value by the conditions of their [36:41] birth or their upbringing. [36:43] America was founded on that premise. [36:46] No other nation dared stake its identity on the distance a citizen could travel from the [36:52] place where they started. [36:54] In fact, over the sweep of human civilization, the arc of a life was largely fixed before [37:00] it even began. [37:01] In the old world, outcomes were predetermined and mobility foreclosed. [37:07] But today, we meet a remarkable moment in the life of a nation that has never attached [37:12] greatness to the ease of beginnings. [37:15] On the eve of America's 250th anniversary, we are demonstrating to foster youth that one's [37:21] birth is not binding and where they begin need bear no resemblance to what they can become. [37:29] Today, in the place where Hamilton's legacy surrounds us, we are extending the reach of [37:35] this institution to the young people his wife devoted herself to defending. [37:40] We are affirming that the American dream belongs to every child. [37:44] And because of the President and Mrs. Trump, through her Fostering the Future initiative, [37:49] we are equipping more children to claim their rightful share of it. [37:54] So thank you all once again for joining us and being part of this historic occasion. [37:59] I look forward to the launch of the next chapter of Fostering the Future and Trump accounts in [38:03] the coming weeks and to the futures that will take shape alongside them in coming years ahead. [38:10] Thank you very much.