Auditor Dennis Milligan Calls on President to Return U.S. Savings Bonds to Americans

 Milligan helps lead national effort with other state officials 

July 15, 2026 (Little Rock) – Auditor of State Dennis Milligan is helping lead a nationwide effort with 29 other state financial officers to urge President Trump to reunite Americans with their matured, unredeemed savings bonds. They are asking that Trump direct the U.S. Treasury to remove bureaucratic regulations that hinder federal-state cooperation. 

Milligan has been working since early 2025 with Congressman French Hill (AR-02), who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, to push the U.S. Treasury to remove regulations imposed during the Biden Administration that make it more difficult for Americans to claim their federal savings bonds. 

“I appreciate Chairman Hill’s dedication to Arkansas and his work on Capitol Hill in always putting our state’s needs first. This has been an ongoing issue for decades, and while I’m certainly not the first financial officer to pick up the reins on this issue, I hope to be the last,” Milligan said. “Holding Americans’ matured savings bonds hostage after promising them a safe, secure investment is wrong. As we said in our letter to President Trump, ‘A promise made should be a promise kept.’” 

Milligan is among 30 auditors, comptrollers and treasurers who endorsed a letter to President Trump July 9 through the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting fiscally conservative values among states. They are seeking Trump’s help to reunite Americans with their matured, unredeemed savings bonds being held by the U.S. Treasury. 

O.J. Oleka, chief executive officer of SFOF, commended Milligan’s work with Congressman Hill. 

“As our nation celebrates America’s 250th anniversary, there is no better time to fulfill promises made to generations of Americans who invested in their country. Auditor Milligan has been outstanding in this effort, leading through this simple principle: Americans deserve access to what they rightfully own,” Oleka said. “Millions of families are still owed proceeds from matured U.S. Savings Bonds, and states stand ready to help reconnect citizens with their property if unnecessary federal barriers are removed. SFOF is proud to stand alongside Auditor Milligan and his state financial officer colleagues to ensure these savings bonds are returned to their rightful owners.” 

The July 9 letter endorsed by Milligan and his colleagues calls on Trump to honor these obligations to prior generations who “believed in the promise of the Republic.” It draws attention to the beginning of the United States Savings Bond Program in 1935 and the War Bonds purchased during World War II. 

“Americans purchased War Bonds not merely as investments, but as acts of patriotism and confidence in the nation’s future,” it reads. “These funds are not, and should not be treated as, federal assets. They represent private property owed to American families.” 

An estimated $39 billion is owed to Americans in matured, unredeemed savings bonds; $234 million of that is owed to Arkansans. 

To check for unredeemed U.S. savings bonds held by the U.S. Treasury, visit https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/treasury-hunt/. 

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