President Donald Trump told a Republican gathering in Dallas that every American adult would receive $5,000 if his party keeps control of both the House and the Senate this fall. He delivered the pledge at the GOP midterm convention.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” Trump said, according to Associated Press. He said the payments would be called the “Trump Dividend.” He compared the idea to a company sending money to its shareholders and pointed to “our tremendous strength and success economically.”
The payments would likely cost more than $1 trillion and would need approval from Congress. AP said the plan would add to the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion yearly budget deficit and would raise worries about inflation.
Vance indicated wealthy Americans might be left out of the payments
Vice President JD Vance spoke about the idea within an hour and appeared to narrow it. He suggested the money would not go to wealthy people and said tariff revenue could cover the cost.
Lawmakers would have to approve the payments or otherwise allow them. The amount discussed would be far larger than what the United States has collected from tariffs, even before the Supreme Court threw out much of the president’s tariff program last year.
The national debt passed $40 trillion last month for the first time. Trump has often said the party in the White House usually loses seats in midterm elections. “We’re going to change that,” he said. “There’s no reason for it.”
Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the president cannot send money to the public without Congress. He said companies pay dividends when they have extra money, but the United States is running $2 trillion deficits each year and carries $40 trillion in debt.
“The idea that we’ve had fiscal success is backwards and bordering on laughable,” Goldwein said. “We don’t have surpluses to give away.”
Trump has talked about similar checks before, though he had not linked them to the midterms. Earlier this year he floated a $2,000 payment and said he did not believe Congress had to sign off. Last year he sent members of the military a $1,776 check he called a “warrior dividend.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio wrote on X, “I will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the November 3rd election.” He added, “Because Republicans (and America) will win!”
A $5,000 payment would be larger than the direct checks Americans received from COVID-19 relief during Trump’s first term. The proposal would add significantly to the national debt, as when Trump previously presided over a surge past $40 trillion.
Attorney John Day of New Mexico said the plan would be legal because everyone would receive the money, no matter how they voted or whether they voted. “This is a campaign promise,” Day said. “It’s not a payment to individuals to try to get them to vote in a particular way.”
Republicans are working to hold a slim House majority. The report said Trump is unpopular and that most Americans oppose the war in Iran. This political landscape comes as Donald Trump’s approval hits a new low, with the GOP facing the prospect of losing both the House and Senate. Control of the Senate is also in play.
Published: Sep 10, 2026 08:45 am