Trump Says $5,000 Checks Wouldn't Need Congress's OK

Trump says his $5,000 'Trump Dividend' checks wouldn't need Congress's approval, despite constitutional spending authority.

President Trump told CBS News Texas on Friday that he does not believe Congress would need to approve his proposed $5,000 payments to American adults, pledged if Republicans retain the House and Senate in November. But we think not." He also said the money would have to be spent in the US, but did not explain how that requirement would work. CNN reports the remarks came in a video interview as the Republican midterm convention in Dallas wrapped up.

The power of the purse belongs to Congress, and legal experts cited in the pack say any check program requires appropriated and authorized funds. According to MS NOW, Brennan Center legal expert Daniel Weiner said Trump "would have to pass it through Congress. Just as any other benefit has to be passed." CBS News's interview is striking because Trump asserted the opposite hours after his own allies, like Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, said they would introduce legislation to pass the payments after the November 3 election.

The reaction on Capitol Hill was swift and split. MS NOW reports Senate Majority Leader John Thune was not briefed or consulted before the announcement, and anonymous House Republicans mocked the pledge, with one saying voters still waiting for a "tariff rebate check" shows why the promise should not be taken seriously. The Associated Press reports Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, called the idea an attempt to buy votes, while GOP Rep. Tim Walberg called it good economic policy. Maine Sen. Susan Collins said spending decisions "should not appear to be tied to election results."

According to PBS, sending $5,000 to the roughly 245 million US citizen adults would cost about $1.2 trillion, while tariff revenue is projected far lower — the Tax Foundation estimated about $208 billion for 2026, and the AP reports FY2026 federal interest expense alone will run about $1.27 trillion. MS NOW cites Atlantic Council analyst Josh Lipsky saying tariff revenue is currently negative as IEEPA collections are refunded, and would later run $100-200 billion a year. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News some money would come from tariff revenue, a claim economists widely dispute.

Economists warn a cash infusion larger than the Covid stimulus would worsen an economy already battling persistent inflation and rising rates. The AP quotes American Enterprise Institute's Michael Strain saying Trump would be "pouring gasoline on lit inflationary embers," and Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's Marc Goldwein calling claims of fiscal success "backwards and bordering on laughable." MS NOW notes 10-year Treasury yields climbed above 4.9% after the pledge, signaling higher mortgage and auto loan costs. The national debt topped $40 trillion this year, per Treasury data cited by the AP.

This is Trump's third version of the same pledge: the "DOGE dividend" checks of early 2025 and the $2,000 tariff dividends promised last November never materialized, PBS reports. He also announced a second, narrower payment — $500 rebates for about one million Americans exposed to Affordable Care Act cost increases — which likewise has no congressional appropriation, according to MS NOW. Whether the dividend advances depends on November's results; Sen. Moreno says he will have a bill ready "immediately after the November 3rd election," but few in Congress or the economics profession expect the checks to ever ship.