← The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson
Historic Week Launching Trump Accounts for every Kid in America—the Inside Story behind this Landmark Victory
00:35:44
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- [00:00]
Ted Cruz
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human the best skaters, BMX riders and moto athletes in the world don't compete in leagues until now. The X Games League championship is live From New Orleans, July 24 through 26. Three days of elite action sports, plus performances From Metro Boomin, JID Subtronics and Bunt Watch on ABC ESPN and ESPN 2. Stream on the ESPN app Roku Kick, Amazon and X Games YouTube. The inaugural champ gets crowned this July. Dad Disney activities are on Lingokids.
- [00:38]
Ben Ferguson
What?
- [00:38]
Ted Cruz
Moana and Elsa and Marvel's Spider Man. All of them on Lingokids. Yes, dad on Lingokids. That's pretty cool. I know. You just lost them for the rest of the afternoon. Worth it. Full of fun activities inspired by Disney's Moana, Frozen Zootopia, Marvel's Spider man and more. Lingokids is where little ones discover more about favorite characters.
- [01:01]
Ben Ferguson
Lingokids.
- [01:02]
Ted Cruz
Everything kids love, download it for free. I think when you're diagnosed with cancer, you crave a semblance of normalcy and control. And so work allowed me to be me. So I think it's really important that companies stay flexible. Cancer in a diagnosis can be all consuming, but it doesn't have to be. Research shows there is a significant connection between the ability to continue to work and cancer recovery. We can make work a better place for healing. Learn more and sign the pledge@workingwithcancerpledge.com all
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Ben Ferguson
new drinks are now at McDonald's with
- [01:40]
Ted Cruz
refreshers like the Strawberry Watermelon refresher and
- [01:43]
Ben Ferguson
the Mango Pineapple refresher with popping Boba. To crafted sodas like the Sprite Berry Blast with berry flavors and cold foam.
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Ted Cruz
Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire six.
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Ben Ferguson
All new drinks are here now at McDonald's.
- [02:03]
Ted Cruz
Refreshers contain caffeine. Welcome. It is Verdict with center Ted Cruz. Ben Ferguson with you. It's nice to have you with us. If you're listening on radio stations all over the country as well, we do this show as a podcast. A reminder, three days a week you can download Verdict with Ted Cruz, the podcast, wherever you get your podcast for free. And we've got a big show for you right now.
- [02:23]
Ben Ferguson
Well, this week was a consequential week indeed. I think this week was an historic week. A week that generations will look back that what happened this week change the future of America. We're gonna break that down for you. But first I have to point out one of the reasons it was consequential is one young Benjamin Ferguson lost his wager to Me. In the last podcast, Ben boldly declared that Graham Platner was not gonna step down before the deadline to replace him.
- [02:53]
Ted Cruz
Yes.
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Ben Ferguson
And, and, and, and he was confident about it. He wanted to put a wager. He wanted Mexican food, he wanted margaritas. He was, he agreed to top shelf. And I got to say, I actually felt guilty. It felt like.
- [03:07]
Ted Cruz
Did you have insider information on this bed? Is that what you're now coming clean about?
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Ben Ferguson
It felt like taking candy from a baby. It felt like beating a Nazi communist in an election. Here's the simple reality. Reality, Ben. Commie's going to commie. So we're going to come back to that in a minute, but just, just understand that our co host, sadly, is, I think the technical term is a loser.
- [03:34]
Ted Cruz
A loser, yes. I knew that word. You, by the way, you didn't Even make it 27 seconds before you started gloating. I would have had you at least at a minute. Yeah, you don't miss an opportunity.
- [03:43]
Ben Ferguson
We got a pre gloat at the front. But, but that is one reason this week is historic. But it's not the biggest reason. The biggest reason that this week is historic is on July 4th, on our nation's 250th birthday, the Trump accounts went live. The Trump accounts, the accounts I wrote the legislation, I created this program. They are now live. They are investment accounts for every single child in America. And, and I believe they're going to have a profound impact for the future of our kids, as our kids are going to experience the miracle of compound growth and as our kids are going to become capitalists. We had an event this week in the Oval Office with President Trump. I was there. We're gonna bring you inside that event with the President. We're gonna tell you everything that was happening behind the scenes, celebrating what I think is an announcement that will make a very real difference 10, 20, 30 years from now, not to mention 50, 75, 100 years from now. This week is when the Trump account's launched.
- [04:47]
Ted Cruz
Yeah. We've got a lot to talk about, especially taking you behind the scenes on what happened at the White House. In just a moment, I also want to talk to you about something really important and something that you're going to want to know about. Most people think the battle over funding abortion providers actually ended when Roe v. Wade was overturned. Well, it didn't. In fact, abortion providers are doing more business than ever. Just the last fiscal year, the largest abortion enterprise in the Nation performed over 430,000 abortions. Now, this is what's even more shocking than that. They received more than $830 million in government reimbursements and grants. Yes, that's your tax dollars. That's our money being used to end the lives of innocent preborn babies. At the same time, one of the longest running newspapers in the United States of America also revealed that many abortion facilities showed decrepit quote factory like conditions and locations all across America. And that is why I'm asking for you to help right now. Americans United for Life. For more than 50 years, Aul has been the legal backbone of the pro life movement. They literally shaped nearly every major pro life law across America. And today they're building on that legacy by leading the charge to ensure the abortion industry is defunded forever. AUL is working to make sure your tax dollars no longer pay for abortions. And they're leading the coalition of pro life friends, including 300 leaders of pregnancy centers. And that is why I want you to step in and help. Aul's goal is real simple. They need your help to make sure Big Abortion is permanently defunded. And right now, every gift you make to aul will, will be tripled through a $250,000 matching challenge. That means your support goes not one, not two, but three times as far to defend unborn children by defunding abortion facilities in America. So please don't wait. Help where you can and make a huge difference. Go to aul.org that's aul.org forward/verdict. That's a u l.org forward/verdict. Give your gift today to have your gift tripled and protect your tax dollars from paying for abortion in America. So, Senator, the Trump accounts was really fun. You and I don't, we share schedules, but I don't look at them every day and I laugh at the trend that's happening. How many times I have to sit on TV waiting for you to talk or waiting for you to finish so that I can then do my hit. And when it happens, it does make me laugh. But the other morning I was on TV and I didn't know they were going to go to Trump accounts. And they, they talked to you in your earpiece. They're like, ben, can you talk Trump accounts? And I started laughing. I'm like, yes, I know awful lot about this. So I then had to wait for Trump to announce this. They were carrying it live on TV and then talk about you and then commentate on something. They're like, do you know about this? And I'm like, yes, it was A really fun moment because I got to advocate for these accounts afterwards. I said, look, don't just set them up for your kids. Do it with your children so they have ownership, so they understand what they're doing. I said, if you're a grandparent watching right now on Fox News.
- [08:08]
Ben Ferguson
Yes.
- [08:09]
Ted Cruz
I said, grandparents, get your grandkids, set up these account with the parents. Make this a family event. The kids will understand it. There's an app they can use. Don't do it for them, do it with them. And I hope it was a really cool moment where people afterwards. So that's a great idea because millions of Americans have signed up for these accounts, as you mentioned. I think it's going to completely transform everything. My kids now want to see the app. They want to see what their money's doing. And that's pretty cool.
- [08:34]
Ben Ferguson
It is the number one app on the App Store since, since the moment it launched. Millions of Americans are downloading the app for these Trump accounts, opening them for their kids and it's going to make just, just a massive difference. We were in, in the Oval on Monday and we were there because right at 9:30 President Trump got to ring in the bell to the New York Stock Exchange, but also Nasdaq. And look, New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are rival exchanges. They rarely cooperate. The heads of both were there in the Oval, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. There was a giant bell that they brought in that right at 9:30, Trump grabbed the rope and rang the bell, which is what you do when you list a new company on the stock exchange. You can go and ring the bell. And it was a very cool moment in, in the Oval. Actually. I said right at 9:30. It was fairly amusing. Actually, it was not right at 9:30 that the timing was slightly off because Scott Besant, the Treasury secretary was talking and he kept talking and there was a clock there. And as it, as it was 9:30, Besant kept talking. And at about 9:30 and like 7 seconds, Trump basically pushed him aside and said, here, I got to ring the bell.
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Ted Cruz
So awesome.
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Ben Ferguson
Monday the bell was rung about seven seconds late, but on TV it was
- [09:52]
Ted Cruz
as it was a moment late. Was there any significance to the bell that was chosen? We didn't get to hear that on tv and you were in the, in the Oval for that. Was there a significance because it was a cool looking bell?
- [10:01]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it's a very cool looking bell and it has on it carved Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange and Trump accounts. And they Made it for that moment. And Trump said, as the event went on, he said, you're not getting this bell back. I'm keeping this bell, which I think everyone anticipated. So the bell will be somewhere in the White House. He said he's gonna put the bell at the ballroom. So somewhere in the ballroom, the bell will be there. But it was a very, very cool moment. Listen to President Trump talking about the Trump accounts on Monday. Nobody cares about that. Right?
- [10:34]
Ted Cruz
This is about the Trump accounts, which are absolutely incredible for children. Children can, at the age of 18
- [10:41]
Ben Ferguson
and after become very wealthy people, come
- [10:45]
Ted Cruz
into the world with essentially no money and end up at a pretty young age being very rich. And that's something that we wanted to do, this country's wanted to do for 25 years.
- [10:58]
Ben Ferguson
Michael and Susan, you've been so great.
- [11:00]
Ted Cruz
My Gerstner man has been so fantastic.
- [11:03]
Ben Ferguson
He pushed everybody.
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Ted Cruz
And I just want to thank everybody. It's a great. It's a great honor.
- [11:10]
Ben Ferguson
We'll have a little fun. And we want to be exactly on time. Are we allowed to be 15, 20, 30 seconds lately?
- [11:17]
Ted Cruz
Typically, no good, Jeff.
- [11:20]
Ben Ferguson
And I'm going to ring that bell. And does that bill, does it stay in the White House? Because I'm not giving it back.
- [11:28]
Ted Cruz
You got it. You got to love the president there mentioning that bell, Senator. And also, I love the fact that you had the kids in the background talking. What a great moment when you're talking about kids accounts, having those kids in the room as well.
- [11:39]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and those were kids there hearing about their future, about investing for their future, and also about becoming capitalists, becoming investors in the biggest employers in America.
- [11:50]
Ted Cruz
All right, Senator, I want to play your comments as well that you made in the Oval after the president talked about the importance of these accounts. You shepherd this through the Senate. The president was very appreciative, and that's why you were there. And I want people to hear what you had to say as well.
- [12:06]
Ben Ferguson
Mr. President, this program, you know, a second ago, Brad made reference to 1935 and Social Security. Trump accounts are in many way Donald Trump's New Deal. But instead of having government taking care of everyone, Trump accounts are about making every child and every American a capitalist. Every one of our kids is now going to be an owner of the biggest producers in our country. Kids, you guys there, each of you are getting an account. These folks here gave you $250. That's a lot of money that you have right now. And you know What? With that $250, you've purchased a little Bit of a bunch of big companies. You know, McDonald's, you now own a little bit of McDonald's. When you go to McDonald's, you can look around and say, I own this place. If you get on an airplane and fly, you look at a Boeing airplane, you now own a little bit of Boeing. Can you believe it? You're an owner of Boeing. That is transformational. That changes the way every child looks at the world and the ability to accumulate life transforming savings, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars for the kids of single moms. That is powerful. Mr. President, in particular, I want to thank you for your unequivocal commitment that this administration, your administration is going to auto enroll every child in America. All 70 million children will have accounts open for them, accounts that can then receive gifts from people like Michael and Susan and Brad. Accounts that let me say to every parent at home, please, right now, go to TrumpAccounts.gov Go to TrumpAccounts.gov Sign your kids up to every employer. If you're not contributing to the accounts of the employees of your kids, do so now, match their contribution, double their contribution. And to philanthropists, go adopt a state, go adopt your city, go adopt a school, go say the kids in my community, the kindergarten class here, we're going to help them get started. This is a moment, I believe transformational to make sure the next 250 is even better than the first. Thank you, Mr. President.
- [14:39]
Ted Cruz
All right, Senator, I got to say, I think one of the best things that you said in that moment there was the fact that you paint a picture for other philanthropists. What Michael Dell and his wife have done and others on a grand nationwide scale is truly incredible. But there are a lot of people that could do this in their hometown. I was thinking my hometown, where I was born, raised in Memphis, and there's a company like FedEx, that's there, Autozone, that's there, International Paper. Those are three companies that could say we're going to adopt the city, as you just mentioned, or the county and have a massive impact and donate into these accounts. I hope that there's a lot of philanthropists, a lot of businesses that will look at their hometown, whether it's a place like, you know, Milwaukee and Harley Davidson or Ford in a place like Detroit. You never know how that could change different cities in a major way as well.
- [15:27]
Ben Ferguson
Well, the way we designed the program, the way I wrote the legislation, every newborn child has $1,000 automatically seated into the account. So if you have a baby this year, 1000 bucks immediately appears in that account. And then parents and family and employers can invest up to 5,000 a year in a tax advantaged account. And all of that money gets put in the stock market in the s and P500. And we deliberately wrote it so that there were two accelerators to make the capital appreciation happen more quickly. Number one, employers contributing and matching. And this is a big deal. Think about 401ks.
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Ted Cruz
Yeah.
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Ben Ferguson
You know, over 70 years ago, Congress passed section 401k of ERISA. And at the time, I doubt anyone in Congress understood how fundamentally they were changing how Americans save for retirement. Trump accounts are 401ks for kids. Today, there's more than $12 trillion invested in 401ks. In very short order, you're going to see trillions of dollars invested in Trump accounts for kids. And one of the reasons there's so much invested in 401ks is, is most employers, certainly most large employers, either contribute to their employer employees 401ks or they match contributions to 401ks. And so that accelerates the growth a lot. There are hundreds of companies that have already announced that they are either going to contribute or match contributions to Trump accounts. And I think this is gonna become a ubiquitous employee benefit, just like matching 401ks. I think it's gonna be standard. You go to work at any big company and the company's gonna say, ben, you contribute to your kids. Trump accounts, we'll match, we'll put money in. And, and the reason that's so important is if you look at compound growth, the numbers get really, really big. But what matters is, is how much you get in early, because the longer you invest and the more you get in early, the more those numbers grow and the bigger they get. And so that accelerator is really big. The second accelerator is we wrote the legislation so that these counts can accept philanthropic gifts, that people can give money to kids, particularly needy kids. And so the pioneer on this, the lead investor was Michael and Susan Dell. Michael and Susan Dell from Texas Austin. They're both very good friends of mine worth over $200 billion. Well, they announced six and a quarter billion dollars they're giving away. And they're giving away $250 to every child under age 10 who lives in a zip code where the median income is $150,000 or less. And that means kids whose parents might not have the money to invest are gonna start with that 250. And we're seeing lots of other entrepreneurs doing the same. Brad Gerson. Who. Gerstner. Who we've had on this show. He's a very good friend of mine. The Trump accounts were his idea. He's adopted the kids in the state of Indiana. Ray Dalio has adopted the kids in Connecticut. That is gonna be a massive accelerator to speeding up kids accumulating assets.
- [18:56]
Ted Cruz
Your faith runs deep, deeper than the words on the page. And somewhere in the back of your heart, you've always known there was a place where it would all make sense in a way nothing else ever could. That place is Israel. Where the Bible isn't history, it's the ground beneath your feet. Where the Sea of Galilee still shimmers at dawn and the streets of Jerusalem still echo with a story that changed the world. Believers who go come home different, more grounded, more certain, more alive in their faith than they have ever been. That's what Israel does. I am Israel. Come experience the journey your faith was made for. Start planning your trip today. Follow Visit Israel on social media. That's Visit Israel on Facebook and Instagram. The first ever X Games League championship is going down live. And New Orleans has the call. Three days of elite action sports. A season's worth of competition coming down to one final weekend. Watch July 24th through 26th on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Or stream on the ESPN app, X Games, YouTube, Kick Roku sports channel and Amazon. The championship starts July 24th. Don't miss the moment it becomes history. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal, so there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for
- [20:40]
Ben Ferguson
six months or $180 for 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees.
- [20:44]
Ted Cruz
Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes.
- [20:45]
Ben Ferguson
Me slow when network is busy. See terms.
- [20:47]
Ted Cruz
Dad. Disney activities are on Lingo kids.
- [20:50]
Ben Ferguson
What?
- [20:50]
Ted Cruz
Moana and Elsa and Marvel's Spider Man. All of them on Lingokids? Yes, dad on Lingokids. That's pretty cool. I know. You just lost them for the rest of the afternoon. Worth it. Full of fun activities inspired by Disney's Moana, Frozen, Zootopia, Marvel's Spider man and more. Lingokids is where little ones discover more about favorite characters.
- [21:13]
Ben Ferguson
Lingokids.
- [21:15]
Ted Cruz
Everything kids love. Download it for free. I want to go back A week before this moment in the Oval Office, because you've got some pretty interesting details and stories to tell from a week in advance. So let's go back to that and talk about what was happening behind the scenes.
- [21:31]
Ben Ferguson
Well, there were a number of policy questions that were being sorted out the week before that that, that got a little bumpy. And one of the things we try to do in Verdict is take you behind the scenes to what actually happens. How, how the sausage got made. There were three big questions that a week out were unresolved. Number one, the Treasury Department, the career lawyers there, frankly, have been resisting this program from the beginning. When I wrote the legislation over a year ago, the career lawyers at treasury didn't want to do it. They fought me every step of the way. Why was that, by the way?
- [22:06]
Ted Cruz
What was the logic behind that?
- [22:08]
Ben Ferguson
You know, it's hard. We don't know how to do this. This is going to be really difficult to have accounts for every kid. We don't. It was just bureaucratic inertia. And they just raised obstacle after obstacle. And I had to link arms with the White House and just ram it through like. Like, which part of all legislative power is vested in Congress are you confused about? They also had ridiculous arguments like, well, no, no, we can't do this because the existing privacy laws don't let us do that. It's like, yeah, okay, Congress wrote those privacy laws, we're writing this law, now we can change the law. That's called legislating. And they just were dug in. I mean, it was a year long battle. So the three issues that a week out were real problems. Number one, the career treasury lawyers came back and said, okay, when, when a philanthropist is giving a gift, you can only put one criterion on it. You can't put two or three criteria on it. And so let's take Michael Dell's gift. Yeah, they came and said, look, I'm sorry, dell cannot give $250 to every child under 10 in every zip code where the median income is under $150,000. They said, you can't do it. He's got to pick one or the other. He can give it to all the kids under 10. He could give it to all the kids in Texas if he wants. He could give it to all the kids in zip codes under 150,000 median income. And that's just nonsense. I very deliberately wrote the statute so that you could turn those dials. You could direct your gift where you believed it would have the greatest impact. But the treasury lawyers Were dug in and they were literally saying, nope, sorry, Dell's gift, it's not going to, we're not going to let it happen.
- [24:05]
Ted Cruz
Amazing.
- [24:07]
Ben Ferguson
So I had Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, he and I are friends. He's a good guy. I had been talking to him for a year about the implementation of these Trump accounts, how to ensure they're successful. I went and had breakfast with him several months ago, had a long detailed letter laying out the issues, met with him, talked with him. Scott is a really good guy. But at the end of the day, the career lawyers at treasury, the Deep State, were pressing back against Scott and pressing back against the President. So finally on July 1st, this was headed to not being the success it needed to be. And so I called the president and I got the President on the phone about 11:30 at night. the time, Heidi and I and the girls, we were on vacation. We went to Florida, to the Panhandle. So we're sitting there on vacation, playing at the beach, really good, you know, good family vacation. And 11:30 at night, I'm on the phone with the President And I said, Mr. President, this is, this is messed up and I need you to fix it. And there were three issues. Number one, the career lawyers trying to prevent targeting gifts to where the donor wants to target them.
- [25:15]
Ted Cruz
Yep.
- [25:16]
Ben Ferguson
Number two, treasury had been resisting allowing individual gifts of stock. So for example, something that happened this week, week, Gwen Shotwell, the president of SpaceX, announced that she is giving and her husband, she and her husband together are giving $325 million in shares of SpaceX. And those are shares of SpaceX that are going to be directed, I believe, to kids 11 to 18. She picked a different age window than Dell did. And so kids 11 to 18 and she has a few other criteria, they will actually receive a share of SpaceX
- [25:57]
Ted Cruz
in their Trump account, which is unbelievable based on what that could become. You go back and look at SpaceX's price and you look at things like Tesla, you look at things like Walmart, you look at things like, I mean the list goes on Tesla, you look at these companies, what one share is worth can change these kids lives literally.
- [26:17]
Ben Ferguson
Well, and I am having multiple conversations with major, major company owners and tech entrepreneurs about doing the same thing. And so the accounts being able to receive an actual share of stock, you can think of all of the other stocks, whether it's SpaceX or Tesla or Google or OpenAI or anthropic. Yet you look at these big, big companies where I will say there is real Interest in giving stock as a charitable gift to the kids of America. And that really is transformational in terms of growth. I think the growth trajectory of especially those tech stocks, it historically has been incredibly high and I think it's likely to continue to be very, very high. But treasury had not, not yet put out any guidance that that Trump accounts could accept single stock gifts. So that was the second issue. And then the third issue was Auto Enroll. I wrote this bill so that every child In America, all 70 million kids, would automatically have an account open for them. That you wouldn't have to do anything to go and affirmatively open the account. Rather, if you're a kid, you're under 18, the government opens the account, it is there for you. The reason Auto Enroll matters so much. If you look at, there have been states that have done similar things to what this program is. If you look at Rhode island, at Oklahoma, for example, they've done similar things.
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Ted Cruz
Yeah.
- [27:52]
Ben Ferguson
In one of them they had opt in. In another they had auto enroll. The one that had opt in, only 50% of the kids participated. The one that had auto enroll, 99% of the kids participated. So the difference is massive. If you don't have, if you don't have Auto Enroll, a large chunk of kids will never get the account. And I want every kid. And in fact, it's worse than that. The ones who are less likely to go open the account are low income kids or kids whose families are not financially sophisticated. And the entire point of this program, frankly, it's not for the kids of rich people. The kids of rich people can use it, but those parents are often already working with their kids to invest. That's already part of what they're doing with their kids. The reason I'm so excited about this program is the kid of a single mom who herself doesn't know anything about the market. That kid will have an account and will learn about compound growth, will learn about ownership. You know, when I was talking to the kids that were in the Oval and I was explaining, you guys just got $250 and I was pointing to Michael and Susan Dell behind me, they gave $250. And you couldn't see that on the video, but the kids who were really cute, they were all, I would say, kind of 7 to 10 years old, the sort of look of wonder what somebody gave me $250. Wow. And, and, and explaining to them, you now own McDonald's, not all of it, but you own a little bit of it. You own Boeing, you own Apple. That is really what gets me excited about this. But, but on auto enroll, the career lawyers and treasury were fighting tooth and nail. So I got President Trump on the phone, 11:30 at night, uh, I think it was July 1st. Uh, explained to him those three issues and said, look, this is a problem. The you care deeply about this program and the career lawyers at treasury are blocking it. He said, ted, let me call Scott. I'll call you right back. So he hung up the phone. He called Bessant. I, I will say the conversation, I feel confident was frank and candid and, and there may have been some words used that are at least PG, if not R rated.
- [30:11]
Ted Cruz
If you've ever been to the other end of one of those phone calls. Oh, yeah, I, I have. You have as well, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. They're usually up there in the, in the PG13 plus scenario. And if he's not happy, he lets you know right away, you know, where you stand.
- [30:25]
Ben Ferguson
And so then 20, 30 minutes later, about midnight, I get a call from Bessant, who's Scott's really mad at me now. And so Scott's yelling and dropping some F bombs in my direction and he's like, you know, why do you get the President all spun up? And I'm like, scott, I've been talking to you about these issues for a year. It is July 1st. The program is going live on July 4th. I said, listen, you want this to be a total success, I want this to be a total success. We're on the same page. We just need to get it done.
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Ted Cruz
Yeah.
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Ben Ferguson
And so what ended up happening because of those. And then I talked to Trump later that night. I talked to him about 7am the next morning, but he was driving saying, fix it, fix it, fix it. Several things happened because of those phone calls. Number one, treasury put out a guidance saying Trump accounts can receive single stocks so that you can now get the SpaceX, you can get the kids can get single stocks that are given. That's going to unleash billions and billions in new charity to kids. Number two, they made clear the Dell criteria and other donors can, can tailor their gifts. That's now clarified.
- [31:31]
Ted Cruz
Senator, I want to go back to, to something that you mentioned a moment ago in this fight over auto enroll. People are listening. They're in different states. Is this a DC issue or is this a state advocacy issue where you can get your state to do something? I think it's an important question to ask and answer because you mentioned two states earlier that they did enrollment for their kids Accounts a little differently. One was you auto enroll. One was, you know, opt in. And it was a big difference. So what should Americans be advocating for right now, and where does that go next?
- [32:01]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, this is a DC Issue. This is a Department of treasury issue. The two states I mentioned, Rhode island and Oklahoma, those were state programs. Those were smaller programs that were sort of similar that they'd set up at the state level. Uh, here, as a result of my conversations with the President and with the Treasury Secretary, what they did do is announce prior to July 4, that the Social Security Administration, when a new child is born, is gonna work with that ch. Child's parents to open a Trump account at the time of birth. Um, it's unclear if that is full auto enroll. Uh, but it is at least a significant step in the direction of auto enrollment. That's helpful, because if we get auto enroll on birth, that's a good thing. You get about 3.7 million new newborns a year, so that automatically opening those accounts matters. They have yet to do auto enroll for all kids up to age 18. There are about 70 million kids in America that are under 18. My objective is every one of them will have an account. Why is that important? It's important, number one, because that account, once open, can be a vehicle for the philanthropy. You look at the Michael Dell gift. If a kid doesn't have an account, he can't get the money Michael Dell is getting. He can't get the share of SpaceX that Gwynne Shotwell is getting. You have to have an account to have a bucket to be able to receive that philanthropy. And the purpose of this is to get everyone to get kids understanding what it means to be an owner, to be an investor, to have a stake in the economy. That's what got me so excited about this idea and where it stands. You know, if you listen back to what I said at the Oval Office, I said at the Oval, and very importantly, President Trump is committed to auto enrolling all 70 million kids. I said that in the Oval. Now, the President has said that before. Scott Bessen has said that before. But again, the treasury career staff, the lawyers are still fighting back. We're gonna get it done. I believe we will get all 70 million auto enrolled. It hasn't happened yet. Millions of kids have enrolled, have gone and gotten the app and enrolled. So there. There's. There's already a lot that has happened. But my objective is, and I'd like to see it in the next 60 days, all 70 million kids have the account opened and by the way, one of the arguments the treasury staff pushes back is they say, well, what about fraud? What if an account is fraudulent? And my response is, look, open the account and you can have, and you're required to have a Social Security number. So this was designed so illegal aliens are not eligible. You have to have a Social Security number. But I said, look, fraud, you can check fraud on the back end and you can vigorously check fraud on the back end to make sure that a kid is a real kid, that they're the person and that it's not somebody else. That doesn't stop you from opening the account. Because when you open the account, at least initially, the account is in government custody. So there's not a fraud risk until the money is going physically to another person. You can check fraud on the back end. The long and short of it is I have a high level of confidence and I will say after the event, I stayed in the Oval with President Trump and Michael and Susan Dell and Brad Gerstner, and we stayed for another 30, 40 minutes just, just the five of us talking about the need for auto enroll. And the President was unequivocal. We are going to get it done. And so, so I'm confident we're going to. But that is a really big deal.
- [35:40]
Ted Cruz
Yeah, it is. All right, I got to ask the cynical question as well. And there's people there and say Democrats may try to undo this down the road. Do they have the power? Is this one of those things like once it's there, it's there. They can't shut it off and unwind it and undo it easily. Because this is something I hope stays indefinitely.
- [36:01]
Ben Ferguson
You know, there is very little opportunity for Democrat mischief on this because this is not a government program. That is the government say, you know, providing ongoing welfare, doing, doing ongoing things. What this is simply is creating these accounts. The thousand dollar seating is automatic, but at the end of it, the money is the kids. So look, if the money was the government's, the government could use them for something bad. But think about your 401k. Think about your IRA. Uh, yes, it's the government that created the vehicle. A 401k account or IRA account that you could invest it. But you're not terribly worried about the government coming in and spending your 401k on something that, that you don't approve of. It's yours. You control it. That's the way we structured this. Also, these are 401ks for kids. Couple other points on this. The Trump administration has been very vocal about wanting to take equity stakes of companies. So for example, they took an equity stake of Intel. They're talking about wanting an equity stake of OpenAI. I've expressed very real concerns. I don't like the government owning parts of companies. I think that is a very bad precedent. Your question what happens when the Democrats take over? Look, if the government is a major shareholder in companies, they will use that power for bad ends. So I don't like that outcome. I'll tell you what I'm suggesting to President Trump. All right? If you want to take equity stakes in companies, rather than have the government keep those stakes, take the 5 or 10% of intel or open AI or what have you and put them in kids Trump accounts, give them to the people, get them out of Washington. Um, that, that is perfectly okay and could end up having an enormous value because again, the more you accumulate quickly, the faster these accounts grow. And, and the beauty of that is once the money goes to the kids accounts, you the, the danger of government mischief is substantially lower. I will point out there are multiple Democrats now celebrating the Trump accounts. I want you to listen to Wes Moore, Democrat governor of Maryland, talking about the Trump accounts. I will give the, this administration credit for this is that we've had Democratic presidents and Republican presidents who have not been able to get this done and it actually got done. So I actually, this is, this is actually a smart policy. I hate the fact that he called the Trump accounts and here's Democrat Cory Booker also praising the accounts.
- [38:41]
Ted Cruz
American Opportunity accounts or baby bonds are now live. These are private tax advantaged interest bearing savings accounts that will be assigned to every child's Social Security number at birth. Sen. Cory Booker says each account will start with $1,000 from the federal government.
- [39:00]
Ben Ferguson
We're doing this today, but 20, 25
- [39:03]
Ted Cruz
years from now, the ground that we're seeing is going to reap a harvest beyond our dreams that will truly astonish
- [39:10]
Ben Ferguson
each and every one of us and our nation.
- [39:12]
Ted Cruz
Senator Booker has been looking forward to making this possible for years. He believed this will help close the racial and economic wealth gap by allowing every child to benefit from the financial power of compound interest. Senator, this goes back to exactly what you said. When you hear Republicans and some leading Democrats saying the same thing, it's a great day for this country.
- [39:34]
Ben Ferguson
Yeah, it is. And look, to be clear, Cory Booker voted against the Trump accounts and he did have an idea which he calls baby bonds, which is opening savings accounts for people that just pay interest. I would say the baby bonds are kind of the kissing cousin of this idea. But what makes this idea so powerful is it's not interest. It is equity. It is ownership in the stock market. That is powerful. But that being said, I welcome the support of Cory Booker. I welcome the support of Wes Moore and other Democrats. This is transformational victories for our kids, and I'm glad to see Democrats supporting it and celebrating it as well.
- [40:11]
Ted Cruz
The best skaters, BMX riders and moto athletes in the world don't compete in leagues until now. The X Games League championship is live From New Orleans, July 24th through 26th. Three days of elite action sports, plus performances from Metro Boomin, JID Subtronics and Bunt Watch on ABC, ESPN and ESPN 2. Stream on the ESPN app Roku Kick, Amazon and X Games YouTube. The inaugural champion gets crowned this July. Mom, can I have lingokids? Dad? Lingokids, please. When did we become the lingokids house? No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's lingokids. Why Lingokids?
- [40:52]
Ben Ferguson
Because it's the best thing ever.
- [40:53]
Ted Cruz
You can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes. With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids. So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
- [41:07]
Ben Ferguson
Lingokids.
- [41:08]
Ted Cruz
Everything kids love, download it for free. People at work supported me while I was going through treatment by not treating me like somebody who was going through treatment. Treatment sucks.
- [41:20]
Ben Ferguson
Cancer sucks.
- [41:21]
Ted Cruz
Being engaged with work really helped to oh, I just knew I was going to beat this thing. Research shows there is a significant connection between the ability to continue to work and cancer recovery. We can make work a better place for healing, learn more and sign the pledge@workingwithcancerpledge.com why should you listen to Armstrong
- [41:43]
Ben Ferguson
and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring and tedious and depressing and makes you angry. Want to live your life like that? Hey, I'm Jack Armstrong.
- [41:53]
Ted Cruz
He's Joe Getty.
- [41:54]
Ben Ferguson
We're Armstrong and Getty. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world.
- [41:58]
Ted Cruz
How about something about a comedic tone?
- [42:03]
Ben Ferguson
We have a winner. Yes. Listen to Armstrong. You geti on Demand on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.