The executive order will also direct Treasury to publicize the match and to issue guidance for private-sector donors who want to contribute to the workers’ IRAs. There has already been a lot of interest in the latter, said the official, who likened the idea to the Dells’ commitment to seed Trump Accounts for children.
In addition, the executive order will tap Treasury and the National Economic Council to draft legislative recommendations that could expand the concept further, including by automatically enrolling workers and by making more workers eligible for the match (though the latter would require additional funds).
NEC Director Kevin Hassett, a longtime advocate for expanding the TSP to the private sector, previously advocated for a related proposal that Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., plus Reps. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., reintroduced last year.
The work Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions Luke Pettit “did to make it possible to get the Trump Accounts going makes it easier for us to set up 401(k) accounts for people who have employers that don’t do that,” Hassett said at a financial literacy event hosted by the Spark Institute last month.
“It’s our belief that between these two things, and existing programs, that we’re going to be creating — forget about a political party, just a generation of Americans who have skin in the game,” Hassett added. “I believe that in the end, when we look back at the policy legacy of this administration, that these will be two of the most transformative policies.”
Workers on average contributed more to the TSP when employers matched their contribution, the Congressional Budget Office found in 2019.
