BY FOX NEWS
President Donald Trump is still working on a plan to deliver tariff-funded stimulus checks to Americans, even as questions intensified over whether Congress would support the plan.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a Fox News interview on Monday that Trump’s proposal for a $2,000 rebate check is still in the works. However, speculation around the proposal has intensified after several Republican members of Congress expressed doubts about the checks.
“The president’s got that on his desk. I know that’s something he wants to achieve. His legislative team will figure out the best way to do it,” Lutnick said.
Trump administration officials have said that the proposal would need approval from Congress, which could take the form of a so-called “reconciliation bill” similar to the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” Act passed earlier this year.
Earlier this month, Trump proposed the tariff “dividend” payments in a social media post. Trump and top administration officials have said these payments would be released in 2026 and restricted to low- and middle-income earners, possibly at income levels of $100,000 or less.
Opposition Emerging From Members of Congress
Some members of Congress argue that tariff revenues should instead be used to pay down the country’s debt.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, said the tariff revenue should go toward paying down the nation’s $38 trillion national debt, according to a Bloomberg News article.2
Several Republican members of the Senate also expressed reservations about the plan, including Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who said that the country’s nearly $2 trillion annual deficit made it unlikely he could support the $2,000 check.
“If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just to making cash payments to Americans,” Johnson told Fox News.3 “We can’t afford it. I wish we were in a position to return the American public their money, but we’re not.”
Meanwhile, Trump continued to tout the benefits of his tariff policies, arguing on his Truth Social platform that more businesses will now be paying tariffs as inventory levels begin to run short, potentially creating even more revenue for the government.
“Soon Tariffs will be paid on everything they apply to, without avoidance, and the amounts payable to the USA will SKYROCKET, over and above the already historic levels of dollars received. These payments will be RECORD SETTING, and put our Nation on a new and unprecedented course,” Trump wrote.
