Babies born this year to receive ‘Freedom 250’ Social Security cards, Trump administration says

Babies born in the U.S. this week through the end of the year will receive a Social Security card bearing the Freedom 250 logo to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration announced Wednesday.

Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription

Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.

“The next generation of Americans born during this historic year will receive limited-edition Social Security cards bearing the Freedom 250 logo. Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, we are strengthening Social Security, improving service, and building an SSA to serve Americans today and in the future,” Social Security Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement.

The limited-edition Social Security cards will be issued only to infants born from July 2 through December 31. Any replacement or duplicate cards ordered in that time period will not be printed with the Freedom 250 logo, the agency said.

The announcement comes as the nation plans to celebrate its semiquintennial birthday this weekend.

Among the celebrations in Washington are the ongoing Great American State Fair and Saturday’s planned Salute to America fireworks celebration. Those events and others, like the Sail250 celebration, this fall’s Patriot Games and the Rededicate 250 prayer jubilee that took place in May, were planned by Freedom 250, a group created by the Trump administration last year to create programming commemorating the nation’s 250th.

Freedom 250, which was established by the Trump administration last year, is a separate entity from America250, a group that was created ten years ago through an act of Congress for the purpose of planning events to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Critics of Freedom 250 say the group is injecting partisanship into anniversary celebrations that are meant to be free from politics, but the group bills itself as nonpartisan and says that all are welcome to their events.

The commemorative Social Security cards are not the first official government documents to bear a symbol of the Trump administration this year.

In April, the State Department announced that Americans could receive a passport bearing an image of President Donald Trump on the inside cover if they chose to order passports from the Washington Passport Agency.