Republicans Pour Cold Water On Trump’s $2,000 Check Proposal

President Donald Trump wants to send $2,000 checks to working-class Americans, but the proposal is facing tough prospects on Capitol Hill.

Fresh off Republicans’ disappointing electoral performance in early November, Trump has turned his attention to addressing voter concerns about affordability and has cast the rebate checks from tariff revenue as central to that effort. A wide array of Republicans told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday they did not support the idea, arguing that tariff revenue should be used to pay down the debt, not four-figure checks.

“My encouragement would be, let’s reduce the deficit,” Republican North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd said Thursday, noting that the government spends more on debt interest payments than national defense.

“That’s ultimately what’s going to rob people of future opportunity, is the interest on the debt,” Budd added. “So, let’s work on getting the deficit eliminated and debt reduced.”

“My opinion is to pay down the debt because that’s causing us as much problem as anything else,” Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville told the DCNF. “That would help the economy. That would help lower prices. That would help ease tax burdens.”

“We’re going to be doing a dividend to the people — low and middle income, moderate income people — of at least $2,000,” Trump told an audience at the U.S.-Saudi Arabia Investment Forum on Wednesday.

The $2,000 checks proposal comes as publicly-held debt nears record highs and the government ran a nearly $1.8 trillion deficit during the previous fiscal year. Though the president has not specified the precise amount of the checks nor their frequency, some economists have voiced