I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9881 

To direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish American Dream 

Accounts for every child born in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 

Mr. PHILLIPS (for himself, Mr. VARGAS, and Mr. THANEDAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 

and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish 

American Dream Accounts for every child born in the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Dream Ac5 counts Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN DREAM ACCOUNTS. 

7 (a) AMERICAN DREAM ACCOUNT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall es2 tablish and manage an American Dream Account (in 

3 this Act, referred to as an ‘‘Account’’) for each cov4 ered individual. 

5 (2) INITIAL AMOUNT.—Upon the establishment 

6 of an Account, the Commissioner shall transfer 

7 $5,000 into such Account, to be invested in accord8 ance with section 3. 

9 (3) VESTING.—A contribution to an Account 

10 vests when a contribution is made, and the balance 

11 of an Account is nonforfeitable except as described 

12 in section 4(b)(5). 

13 (4) DISTRIBUTIONS.—The Commissioner may 

14 only distribute the balance of an Account upon re15 ceiving a request in accordance with section 4. 

16 (b) PEACE CORPS AND AMERICORPS BONUS.—If a 

17 covered individual serves, for at least 12 months, as a 

18 Peace Corps volunteer or volunteer leader (as referred to 

19 in the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.)) or in 

20 an approved national service position (as defined in section 

21 101 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 

22 (42 U.S.C. 12511)), prior to the date that such individual 

23 turns 26 years of age and prior to requesting a disburse24 ment under section 4, then the Commissioner shall trans25 fer $10,000 to the Account of such covered individual. 


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1 (c) EXEMPT FROM BENEFIT AND ENTITLEMENT DE2 TERMINATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

3 law, the balance of an Account shall not be taken into 

4 account in determining the need or eligibility of a covered 

5 individual or the family of the covered individual under 

6 any Federal, State, or local program financed in whole or 

7 in part with Federal funds. 

8 SEC. 3. INVESTMENT GUIDELINES. 

9 The Commissioner shall invest the funds of each Ac10 count established under this Act, and any interest or pro11 ceeds earned on such funds, in a commonly recognized 

12 index comprised of common stock, the aggregate market 

13 value of which is a reasonably complete representation of 

14 the United States equity markets. 

15 SEC. 4. DISBURSEMENT. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall, upon re17 ceiving a request pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A), make 

18 a disbursement in accordance with the election made 

19 under subsection (b)(1)(B) to a covered individual or an 

20 eligible beneficiary in the form of— 

21 (1) a one-time disbursement; 

22 (2) monthly checks over a 12-month period; 

23 (3) a rollover contribution directly to a Roth 

24 IRA (as defined in section 408A of the Internal Rev25 enue Code of 1986); or 


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1 (4) any combination of the disbursements de2 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (3) as the Sec3 retary may prescribe by regulation. 

4 (b) DISBURSEMENT AND REQUEST REQUIRE5 MENTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

7 (A) REQUEST INFORMATION.—To receive a 

8 disbursement from the Account of a covered in9 dividual, such individual, or an eligible bene10 ficiary, shall submit a request at such time, in 

11 such manner, and containing such information 

12 as the Commissioner may require. 

13 (B) DISBURSEMENT FORM.—As part of 

14 the request made under subparagraph (A), a 

15 covered individual or eligible beneficiary shall 

16 elect the form in which the disbursement should 

17 be made. 

18 (2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL REQUEST ELIGI19 BILITY.—To be eligible to receive a disbursement 

20 under this Act, a covered individual shall be older 

21 than 17 years of age and younger than 26 years of 

22 age, and— 

23 (A) earn a regular high school diploma (as 

24 defined in section 8101(43)(A) of the ElemenVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:07 Oct 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9881.IH H9881

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1 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

2 U.S.C. 7801(43)(A)); 

3 (B) earn a recognized equivalent of a di4 ploma, such as a general equivalency diploma or 

5 a home school diploma; or 

6 (C) obtain a waiver of disability from the 

7 Social Security Administration. 

8 (3) REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN DISBURSE9 MENTS.—A covered individual, or an eligible bene10 ficiary, shall— 

11 (A) in order to receive a one-time disburse12 ment, establish a bank account prior to submit13 ting a request for a disbursement; or 

14 (B) in order to have the Commissioner 

15 transfer any amount in a rollover contribution 

16 directly to a Roth IRA (as defined in section 

17 408A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), 

18 establish a Roth IRA (as so defined) prior to 

19 submitting a request for a disbursement. 

20 (4) DISBURSEMENT AFTER DEATH OF A COV21 ERED INDIVIDUAL.—In the case of a covered indi22 vidual who dies prior to submitting a request for a 

23 disbursement, an eligible beneficiary who is the ap24 propriate individual in accordance with the laws of 

25 the domicile of the covered individual at the date of 


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1 death of the individual shall submit a request under 

2 paragraph (1) not later than 1 year after the date 

3 of the death of such individual. 

4 (5) FAILURE TO SUBMIT A REQUEST.—If a re5 quest for disbursement is not submitted to the Com6 missioner to receive a disbursement prior to the date 

7 that the individual turns 26 years of age, or within 

8 the necessary time period described in paragraph 

9 (4), then the Commissioner shall transfer the bal10 ance of such Account to the general fund of the 

11 Treasury. 

12 (c) EXEMPT FROM BENEFIT AND ENTITLEMENT DE13 TERMINATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 

14 law, an amount received as a disbursement from an Ac15 count under this Act shall not be taken into account, for 

16 the year in which the disbursement is received, in deter17 mining the need or eligibility of an individual under any 

18 Federal, State, or local program financed in whole or in 

19 part with Federal funds. 

20 (d) ATTACHMENT.—The right of any person to any 

21 payment from an Account under this Act shall not be 

22 transferable or assignable, at law or in equity, and none 

23 of the moneys paid or payable, or rights existing under 

24 this Act, shall be subject to execution, levy, attachment, 


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1 garnishment, or other legal process, or to the operation 

2 of any bankruptcy or insolvency law. 

3 SEC. 5. OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis7 sioner shall establish an office, to be known as the 

8 ‘‘Office of the American Dream’’ (referred to in this 

9 section as the ‘‘Office’’), 

10 (2) DIRECTOR.—The Commissioner shall ap11 point a director of the Office who has substantial ex12 perience, training, and expertise in the management 

13 of financial investments and pension benefit plans. 

14 (b) DUTIES.—The Office shall— 

15 (1) develop expertise in the management of fi16 nancial investments and pension benefit plans; 

17 (2) establish policies to guide the Commis18 sioner’s investment and management of the Ac19 counts, pursuant to the guidelines described in sec20 tion 3; 

21 (3) conduct periodic reviews of the Accounts, in 

22 collaboration with the Office of Analytics, Review, 

23 and Oversight, including the performance of invest24 ments made for the Accounts; 


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1 (4) regularly provide information to covered in2 dividuals about the status of the Accounts of such 

3 individuals; and 

4 (5) carry out the duties of the Office solely in 

5 the interest of covered individuals. 

6 SEC. 6. TAX TREATMENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An Account is exempt from tax8 ation under subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 

9 1986 and contributions to, and distributions from, an Ac10 count shall not be includible in the gross income of the 

11 beneficiary of such Account. 

12 (b) ROLLOVERS TO ROTH IRAS.— 

13 (1) Section 408A(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue 

14 Code of 1986 is amended— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub16 paragraph (B)(ii), by striking the period at the 

17 end of subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, 

18 and by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol19 lowing new subparagraph: 

20 ‘‘(D) from an American Dream Account to 

21 the extent provided in section 4 of the Amer22 ican Dream Accounts Act of 2024.’’; and 

23 (B) in the last sentence— 


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1 (i) by inserting ‘‘or American Dream 

2 Account’’ after ‘‘qualified tuition pro3 gram’’, and 

4 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or (D), respec5 tively,’’ after ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’. 

6 SEC. 7. ESTABLISHMENT OF WEBSITE AND MOBILE APPLI7 CATION. 

8 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act, the Commissioner, in consultation with the 

10 Secretary of Education, shall develop a publicly accessible 

11 website and mobile application for covered individuals to 

12 access information about the Accounts of such individuals. 

13 SEC. 8. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND PERSONAL FINANCE 

14 BEST PRACTICES AND GRANTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education 

17 shall disseminate best practices for teaching financial 

18 management described in subsection (b) to public elemen19 tary schools and public secondary schools. 

20 (b) BEST PRACTICES.—The best practices described 

21 in this paragraph— 

22 (1) shall include information relating to the 

23 tracking, management, and usage of the Accounts; 

24 and 

25 (2) may include— 


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1 (A) methods to create a budget, track ex2 penses, and save for short-term and long-term 

3 financial objectives; 

4 (B) effective ways to save and invest 

5 money, including by introducing students to dif6 ferent financial securities; 

7 (C) information on the fundamentals of 

8 credit, including a description and effects of 

9 credit scores, and the importance of responsible 

10 credit card usage; 

11 (D) critical thinking skills to evaluate fi12 nancial products, make informed decisions, and 

13 avoid financial scams; 

14 (E) methods to ensure that each student 

15 has a clear understanding of postsecondary edu16 cation financing options, including student loan 

17 borrowing, in preparation for enrollment at an 

18 institution of higher education; and 

19 (F) entrepreneurship training and the fun20 damentals of starting a small business. 

21 (c) GRANTS.— 

22 (1) GRANT AUTHORIZED.—Not later than 1 

23 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

24 Secretary shall establish a grant program to award 

25 grants, on a competitive basis, to State educational 


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1 agencies to promote new and existing strategies to 

2 expand, develop, implement, evaluate, and dissemi3 nate professional development programs in financial 

4 literacy for the voluntary use of innovative ap5 proaches to teaching financial literacy to elementary 

6 and secondary school students. 

7 (2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

8 grant under this section, a State educational agency 

9 shall submit to the Secretary of Education an appli10 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing 

11 such information as the Secretary may require. 

12 (3) SUBGRANTS.—A State educational agency 

13 receiving a grant under this Act shall use any re14 maining funds to provide grants to local educational 

15 agencies in the State for such local education agen16 cies to provide professional development to teachers. 

17 (4) ADDITIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—Each State 

18 educational agency may use not more than 10 per19 cent of a grant received under this Act— 

20 (A) for the development of financial lit21 eracy and personal finance curricula; or 

22 (B) to conduct an evaluation of the impact 

23 of financial literacy or personal finance edu24 cation on students’ understanding of financial 

25 literacy concepts. 


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1 (d) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 

2 ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘sec3 ondary school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 

4 meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the Elemen5 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 7801). 

7 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (a) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commissioner’’ 

10 means the Commissioner of Social Security. 

11 (b) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered indi12 vidual’’ means an individual who, after the date of enact13 ment of this Act— 

14 (1) has been issued a social security account 

15 number; and 

16 (2)(A) is born a citizen of the United States; or 

17 (B) becomes a naturalized citizen of the United 

18 States prior to turning 18 years of age. 

19 (c) ELIGIBLE BENEFICIARY.—The term ‘‘eligible 

20 beneficiary’’ means a person who is— 

21 (1) entitled to receive funds on behalf of a cov22 ered individual under the laws of the domicile of the 

23 covered individual; and 

24 (2) not the individual for whom the Account 

25 was established. 


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1 SEC. 10. APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 Out of any money in the Treasury of the United 

3 States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated 

4 such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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