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 concern that the rebate checks could increase budget deficits.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the tariff dividend checks will require an act of Congress to be disbursed. Republican leadership appears skeptical of the idea so far.
“I’d like to see it [tariff revenue] pay down debt,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters when asked about the checks proposal.
Thune added he would consider any proposal put forth by the administration, but had not heard from the president about the idea.
The checks also appear to face deep opposition from leading fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans, who have been willing to cross Trump during the first year of his second term.
“We don’t have any money to give out,” Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told the DCNF. “We’re $2 trillion in the hole.”
“I don’t agree with that,” Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said regarding the proposed $2,000 payments.
Tillis and Paul were among the five Republican senators who voted to terminate the president’s authority to impose tariffs on Brazil. Paul also supported the bipartisan effort to block the president from levying tariffs on Canada and U.S. trade partners.
Not every GOP lawmaker is likely to oppose the president’s check proposal. Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley unveiled legislation in July to send working-class Americans rebate checks using revenue from Trump’s tariffs.
A White House official told the DCNF the president is committed to formulating beneficial economic policies for working-class Americans, citing the tax cuts enacted in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July.
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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