President Donald Trump says his proposed $5,000 “Trump dividends” would come with a significant caveat: Recipients would have to spend the money in the United States. Trump unveiled the proposal in a keynote address at the Republican midterm convention Wednesday in Dallas. He said every adult U.S. citizen would receive $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the November midterms.
The money, he stipulated, could not be spent abroad. We don't want to have that money spent in other countries,” he said. The eye-catching proposal has drawn immediate skepticism, including questions about its legality, cost and whether Trump could authorize such payments without Congress.
Some critics have characterized it as an unprecedented effort to influence voters ahead of the midterms. Sarah Smith, the BBC’s North America editor, said the pledge could potentially run afoul of federal law. When asked why he doesn’t simply send out the checks now by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Trump provided an inscrutable answer.
He said: “Because the Democrats can’t do it. Because with them, it’s negative growth. With us, it’s so positive.” Any broad federal payment program would also presumably require authorization from Congress, which controls federal spending.
The pandemic-era stimulus checks, for comparison, were authorized through legislation, including the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. Asked by CBS News whether the “Trump Dividends” would require congressional approval, Trump said: “Well, we think not. I think they will do it if we needed it.
But we think not.” The cost would also be immense. Using the Census Bureau’s estimate of 258.3 million U.S. adults in 2020, $5,000 payments to every adult would total roughly $1.3 trillion. For context, the entire federal government spent about $7 trillion in fiscal year 2025.
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