By Jacob Bogage
WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s promise to send U.S. adults $5,000 “dividend” checks if his party keeps control of Congress in November’s midterm elections drew a cool reception from some Republicans on Thursday, with several lawmakers saying it would spike inflation and worsen the country’s fiscal stability.
Trump told voters at the Republicans’ midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday that he would issue the stimulus checks to celebrate “our tremendous strength and success economically.” The proposal, if approved by Congress, would cost roughly $1.2 trillion, plus hundreds of billions of dollars more in interest.
Some Republicans warned the massive cash injection into an economy already running hot could accelerate inflation at a time when voters are concerned about high living costs.
“I would personally throw everything of my heart and soul to stop it, because it would actually do more damage to working people than would ever help them,” U.S. Representative David Schweikert, an Arizona Republican set to leave Congress at the end of his term, told Reuters on Wednesday.
“It would continue to raise interest rates,” he added. “It would be on their own credit card and would bring the interest rate death spiral sooner to the United States.”
SOME REPUBLICANS SUPPORT PLAN
Several Republicans quickly backed the proposal, however, as they look for ways to energize voters in the campaign’s final stretch. U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, wrote on social media that he was preparing legislation to formalize the “Trump dividend” after the November 3 election.
The debate is unfolding against the backdrop of a fiscal reckoning decades in the making. Economists across the political spectrum warn that Washington’s heavy borrowing — pushing the national debt toward levels unseen since World War Two — has put the country on an unsustainable financial trajectory.
Trump has promised other “dividends” before, including payments from tariff revenue and his cost-cutting U.S. Department of Government Efficiency. None have come to fruition.
He issued payments to military service members in December 2025, calling them a “warrior dividend.” But the $1,776 payments were repurposed funds from military housing stipends and not a Christmas bonus as Trump had described them.
“You never know with Trump whether this was just kind of a rhetorical thing, or whether he really meant it,” said Stephen Moore, a conservative economist who periodically advises Trump and White House officials.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement that “the doomers and naysayers have consistently doubted President Trump” and Trump has proven them wrong.
“With the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results,” Ingle said.
Democrats poked fun at Trump’s proposal. U.S. Representative Ted Lieu of California wrote on social media: “If Democrats flip the House and Senate everyone will get a $10,000 dividend, and a pony, and free ice cream for life.”
VOTERS’ REACTIONS MIXED
At the Republican convention in Dallas, voters’ reactions to the proposal were mixed. Christine Gardner, a retired intellectual property lawyer from Texas, said she did a double take when she heard Trump announce the dividend.
“I thought that was very strange,” Gardner said. “I thought: ‘He’s buying votes.'”
Chris Lorenz, an Oklahoma minister, said he backed the payments, adding that he felt Americans are overtaxed and that Republicans must win in November to prevent Democrats from instituting far-left policies.
“I think it’s great, $5,000, especially if it’ll help win the midterms,” he said. “We believe the future of the country is at stake.”
TRUMP MAKES MIDTERMS A TEST OF HIS PRESIDENCY
Trump told voters on Wednesday to cast the midterms as a referendum on his presidency, instructing them to “pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
But voters have soured on Trump’s agenda, recent Reuters/Ipsos polls show. Trump’s approval rating stands at 33%. Most Americans oppose his new tariffs on Canadian goods, and voters favor Democrats’ approach to cost-of-living issues over Republicans’ by an eight-percentage-point margin.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who has sometimes publicly disagreed with Trump, said it was unclear whether the checks could garner the 60 votes needed to defeat a Senate filibuster but that he thought Republicans could keep control of both chambers as they consider additional tax cuts.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told Fox News.
“He wants more money in the pockets of the American people. The Democrats want to grow government in Washington, D.C.,” Thune said. “Obviously, we’re going to be looking at every opportunity we can to allow the American people to keep more of what they earn.”
(Reporting by Jacob Bogage, additional reporting by Nathan Layne, Susan Heavey, Richard Cowan and David Morgan; editing by Colleen Jenkins, Rod Nickel and Nick Zieminski)
Comments