Lafayette Reporter

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has taken steps to help Americans retrieve unclaimed savings bonds. Speaking on the Senate floor, Kennedy emphasized his commitment to ensuring that citizens can access funds held by the federal government. He highlighted that the U.S. Department of Treasury will start sharing data on these bonds with state officials by Summer 2025.

Kennedy criticized the government's handling of unclaimed savings bonds, stating, "Now, government waste takes many forms, but I'll tell you one form—it’s the purest form. It's when the federal government has taxpayer money, and it doesn't belong to the federal government, but the federal government refuses to give it back."

He revealed that approximately 95 million individuals or their heirs are owed a total of $38 billion in unclaimed savings bonds. Despite attempts to address this issue with the Treasury Department, Kennedy faced resistance: "After a while, you didn't have to be Einstein’s cousin to figure out they weren't going to cooperate with me."

In response, Kennedy passed the Unclaimed Savings Bond Act as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The legislation mandates that the Treasury share information about bond owners with state officials. This collaboration aims to integrate these records into each state's unclaimed property program.

Kennedy noted that state treasurers are eager to make this information available online: “And my purpose of being here today is to try to tell folks...we’re going to take all those digital records...and they're going to be sent to the state treasurer in every state.”

As former Louisiana State Treasurer for 17 years, Kennedy successfully managed an unclaimed property program and helped return $400 million in assets.