Trump Touts Automatic Enrollment for Trump Accounts as 60 Million Children Added and Texas Midterm Battle Heats Up

President Trump hosted a White House event on October 7 to celebrate the completion of automatic enrollment for Trump Accounts, the tax-advantaged investment accounts also known as 530A accounts that officially launched on July 4. The Treasury Department announced the change could add more than 60 million children to the program in 2026, with roughly 2 million new accounts expected per year in subsequent years. Children born between 2025 and 2028 are eligible for a one-time $1,000 pilot program contribution.

Trump's policy agenda extended further on the same day, with reports that the administration is targeting foreign college graduates with fees of up to $100,000 as a condition of remaining in the United States to work after graduating. The administration is also weighing a suspension of the federal gas tax, a move economist and commentator Peter Schiff warned would raise demand for gasoline, shrink federal revenue, widen the budget deficit, and ultimately push up prices across the broader economy.

On the political front, Trump traveled to San Antonio to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, Texas's sitting attorney general, amid growing concern within the GOP about the race. Democrat James Talarico leads Paxton 50% to 44% in recent polling, and Trump's intervention reflects the stakes the party has assigned to a contest that could shape the Senate map in the 2026 midterms. The White House is also expected to announce a government AI compute credit donation on Thursday, a move described as a step toward democratizing access to advanced computing for scientific research.