WASHINGTON, July 5 -- The first American child born after January 1, 2025, became eligible on Friday for a government investment account worth $1,000. Whether that child's family can put it to meaningful use is a separate question from whether they received it.

President Trump signed the Trump Accounts program into law as part of the Republican reconciliation bill that passed along party lines earlier this year. The same legislation cut Medicaid eligibility, imposed work requirements on recipients of SNAP food assistance, and directed the savings toward, among other things, a new investment vehicle for newborns that the White House describes as generational wealth-building. The July 4 rollout featured pledges from some of the wealthiest ...