‘Why?!’ House Democrats Incredulous at Proposal to Rename Baby Savings Accounts to ‘Trump Trust’
House Democrats were puzzled on Wednesday after Republicans pushed to rename their proposed government-assisted baby savings accounts after President Donald Trump.
The proposed savings accounts, which were initially named after Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” were renamed at the last minute to include Trump’s surname, puzzling House Democrats on the Rules Committee.
During a meeting of the Rules Committee, ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) questioned, “What does it mean to, you know, to strike ‘MAGA’ and insert ‘Trump’? What’s that about in the manager’s amendment?”
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) replied:
All of that language was in the original bill when they were creating this new trust that you would, for a child born in I think four or five year period – I don’t remember now if it was a four year period or a five year period – you could set up a trust, there was all kinds of rules about the qualifications of the trustee, had to be a bank, etcetera, etcetera, and the name of the trust originally was going to be the “MAGA Trust,” that you set up for the child and the government was going to put in, I believe if I remember correctly, it was $1,000 for each child where the family set this up, and they were gonna call it “MAGA Trust.”
Asked why they had decided to change the name, Griffith said, “The reason was to change that to ‘Trump Trust.'”
“Why?!” shouted McGovern, as several other frustrated representatives could be heard asking the same question.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) protested, “The Cory Booker idea? This was Cory Booker’s idea. It’s his baby bonds.”
“Thank you Mr. Griffith for that explanation,” said Joe Neguse (D-CO), laughing. “It’s nice to have that clarity and I suspect those who might be watching online can now understand.”
He continued, “‘MAGA baby bonds’ are now gonna be named the ‘Trump baby bonds.’ That’s what Republicans have spent the better part of the last 24 hours negotiating at the White House. Apparently the president got his way and these new saving accounts will be named in his honor. For all the talk of my colleagues, you know, not treating him like a king, it sure seems like you are attempting to do so.”
Neguse concluded, “You all would be screaming bloody murder if we named savings accounts after Barack Obama. The new trust accounts for your children and grandchildren, ‘Obama accounts.’ I would love to see the reaction.”
Watch above via CSPAN.
