Trump’s Retirement Expansion Rests on Treasury, Congress Actions

President Donald Trump‘s push to expand retirement plan access for workers without employer-sponsored accounts shifts the spotlight onto the Treasury Department and lawmakers to turn the concept into reality and make it a long-term success.

Trump on Thursday signed an order that directed Treasury to create a website by Jan. 1, 2027, that offers workers without access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan a portal featuring information about low-cost individual retirement accounts. Certain low-income individuals who opt to contribute to an IRA would be eligible for a government match of up to $1,000.

Trump’s order is an incremental but meaningful attempt to reach the estimated 56 million workers who don’t have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, benefits attorneys and retirement advocates said.

“It’s relatively modest,” said Michael Kreps, an attorney at Groom Law Group. “They’re trying to work within the confines of existing law, and the authority the president has to do things, which in this space isn’t all that broad.”

The order directs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to establish a website, TrumpIRA.gov, that lists financial institutions that offer IRAs and accept the Saver’s Match program, which was part of the SECURE 2.0 Act signed into law in 2022. The offered accounts must maintain low administrative costs and management fees and must not require minimum contributions or balances, according to the order.

The order also directs the Treasury secretary and the IRS commissioner to issue guidance around contributions made by tax-exempt organizations to the IRAs.

“For millions of Americans who lack employer-sponsored plans, this will be really revolutionary, because they’ll be covered,” Trump said.

The order followed the president’s announcement during February’s State of the Union address in which he said his administration would give Americans without employer-sponsored retirement plans access to the same type of plan offered to federal employees.

Treasury’s Next Steps

Kreps said Treasury will likely implement some guardrails around what kind of IRA products can be offered through the government-run portal.

Treasury and the IRS may have to do more work to ensure the website and the infrastructure to implement the Saver’s Match are in place by the start of next year in order to be able to send the government contribution directly to eligible plans.

“That’s going to require rulemaking and presumably some kind of clearinghouse type mechanism from the government and a lot of work from the record keepers,” Kreps said.

The Saver’s Match uses Treasury funds to match 50% of contributions, up to $1,000 for individuals earning less than $35,500, and married couples earning less than $71,000.

William McBride, chief economist at The Tax Foundation, said an advantage for the administration is that the match policy is already in place, as are the products the government intends to offer. The plan has a similar goal and structure to the Obama administration’s myRA program, which Trump scrapped during his first term.

“It’s a heavily regulated market, so it’s not like they need to determine the legality of the products,” McBride said.

One major challenge will be educating the public on the portal and the match for those who qualify, retirement experts said.

The success of the administration’s push will depend on whether there are features like auto-enrollment to drive participation, and whether the products offer emergency saving and other features lower-income workers need, said KC Boas, retirement initiative lead at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program.

“A successful marketplace will also be easy to navigate, with a user experience making it more likely that workers will end up with better savings outcomes, not just more savings options,” Boas said in a statement.

Talks With Congress

Trump said the administration is planning to take the concept to “the next level” by going to Congress to expand the number of workers eligible for the Saver’s Match.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said he’s been talking with Republican lawmakers about legislation that could be introduced later this year that would allow middle-income and possibly higher earners to qualify for the match.

“What you’ve done here is you’ve given the match to low-income people,” Hassett said. “We think that there are a lot of people who make more than that who don’t have any assets for retirement, and so we’re working with Congress to significantly expand this program.”

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.), who was in the Oval Office for Thursday’s signing, is a co-sponsor on the bipartisan Retirement Savings for Americans Act, which has been introduced in the House and Senate. The legislation, which is also backed by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), would automatically enroll workers who don’t have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan into a new account with investment options comparable to the Thrift Savings Plan, a low-cost retirement plan offered to federal employees. Low- and middle-income workers would be eligible for a government match.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) has for years pushed for the Automatic IRA Act, which would require employers with more than 10 employees that don’t offer a retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers in an IRA. Small businesses would be eligible for a tax credit to reduce the cost.

“Governing by executive order doesn’t produce the durable, sustaining results that the people deserve, and the Trump Administration’s habit of rolling out flashy, Trump-branded websites one week and forgetting to follow with any substance the next is another reason why Congress must take the lead here,” Neal said in a statement Thursday.