President Donald Trump has promised a $5,000 payment to every American adult if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in the coming midterm elections.
Trump made the promise of a so-called “Trump dividend” at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday night. He said the money would have to be spent in the U.S., although he did not offer details on how that restriction would be enforced. The White House did not comment on the details of the proposal, but White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told TIME that “with the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results.”
“Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate,” Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000, very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders.”
The proposal could have significant economic consequences. The U.S. has roughly 240 million adult citizens, according to Census Bureau data, putting the proposal’s cost at approximately $1.2 trillion. Unless offset by new revenue or spending cuts, the payments would likely widen the federal budget deficit—which totaled nearly $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025—and could add to inflationary pressures.
Vice President J.D. Vance later narrowed the proposal, suggesting that wealthy Americans would not qualify. He added that the payments could be financed by tariff revenue, which amounted to around $154.5 billion in the first 10 months of fiscal 2026 through July.
Trump, who has frequently blamed former President Joe Biden for raising inflation through stimulus measures, suggested that the dividend would be financed by “tremendous economic success” from his policies.
“The reason the Democrats can’t do that is because they don’t do tariffs, they don’t take in money, all they know is poverty,” the President said.
When asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday “if you have the money, why not give it now,” Trump said Democrats had produced “negative growth” while growth under Republicans has been “so positive.” (Real GDP grew annually throughout Biden’s presidency, as it has also done in Trump’s second term.)
In his first term, Trump authorized two rounds of congressionally-approved stimulus checks during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, he also compared the promised dividend with the $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” announced for military service members in December, which was funded by a congressionally approved housing supplement.
Such a plan would require congressional approval. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R, S.D.) told Fox News on Thursday that he was open to the idea but that it was a “good question” if the proposal could garner enough support to pass. “We will cross that bridge when we come to it,” he added.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R, Ohio) endorsed the proposal and said he would prepare legislation to pass the dividend “immediately” after the election.
Some, however, are skeptical about the idea.
Rep. Chip Roy, (R, Texas) told Politico, “I would like to know how they would plan to pay for … back of envelope … well over $1 trillion.”
Rep. David Schweikert (R, Ariz.) told Reuters he “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.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, also a Republican, urged his party to “be the adults in the room.”
“I am hoping for a GOP win of the House and Senate in November but if we win, then the GOP leadership should vote down the ‘Trump Dividend’ of $5,000 per adult citizen and instead focus on reducing our $40 trillion national debt,” Hutchinson posted on X.
Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement that “this half-baked political scheme” would worsen national debt, increase inflation, and drive up borrowing costs. “The reality is that the more goodies politicians promise, the more ordinary Americans will pay the price at the grocery store, on their mortgage statements, or in the burden they leave their children,” she said.
Justin Amash, a former Republican congressman from Michigan, called the proposal a “ridiculous, unrealizable bribe” that “would amount to a trillion-dollar-plus redistribution scheme.”
Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, who is a prominent Republican donor, posted, “For the record, I am hugely in favor of winning the midterms, and love much about this admin, but am strongly against bread and circus bribes.” Lonsdale co-hosted “The Great American Midterm Party” on the sidelines of Wednesday’s convention with one of Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D, N.Y.) said in a post that Trump was “resorting to trying to bribe the American people for their votes.”
Federal law prohibits paying someone to register or vote. For example, the Wisconsin Elections Commission found probable cause that tech billionaire Elon Musk, who formerly held an advisory role at the government’s cost-cutting initiative DOGE, violated state election bribery laws by offering $1 million to people who voted in the state’s Supreme Court election last year. A special prosecutor subsequently declined to file charges.
In Trump’s case, however, the proposed payments would go to all adult Americans regardless of whether they voted or who they voted for. In an interview with Fox News, Sen. Ted Cruz (R, Texas) characterized the dividend proposal as similar to the promise of a “tax rebate.”
The Democratic National Committee said Trump and Republicans have repeatedly promised rebate checks that never materialized.
The President previously promised to send $2,000 tariff dividends to Americans. He also endorsed returning 20% of DOGE savings to taxpayers and depositing $1,000 or more into eligible Americans’ health savings accounts. None of these payments has gone out: the DOGE and tariff dividends were never enacted, and the HSA legislation—a Republican alternative to extending enhanced ACA premium tax credits, which expired at the end of 2025—failed in the Senate. The Administration is reportedly preparing a $500 rebate for some unsubsidized ACA enrollees.
“Donald Trump and Republicans are once again offering empty promises to Americans,” DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer said in a statement. “The only people reaping the benefits of Trump’s economy are himself, his family, and his ultra-rich elite donors. Meanwhile, working families get nothing except sky-high receipts at the grocery store and the pump, unaffordable healthcare premiums, and wages that aren’t keeping up with inflation.”
The White House shirked criticism in a statement to TIME.
“The doomers and naysayers have consistently doubted President Trump: when he pledged to create the historic Trump Accounts, lowered prescription prices with Most Favored Nations, secured the border with no crossings, cleaned up our streets, ended taxes on tips, grew real wages, renegotiated broken trade deals, and reshored key manufacturing back to the United States,” Ingle said. “President Trump has consistently proven his doubters wrong, drawing a clear contrast with the Democrats’ record of historic inflation, unfettered illegal immigration, skyrocketing crime, and weakness on the world stage.”
Trump’s pledge comes at a low point for his popularity in his second term. His approval rating fell from 47% at the beginning of the term to 33% in mid-August, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Americans have expressed growing dissatisfaction with the economy and the war in Iran, now in its seventh month. Concerns about affordability, intensified by wartime supply disruptions, have propelled progressive Democratic candidates to a series of primary victories.
The President cast the congressional elections as a referendum on his presidency, telling voters at the convention to “pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
“If the Republicans win, you win with us,” Trump said. “Now all we have to do is win.”
