Trump Has Promised U.S. Adults $5,000 if The GOP Wins The Midterms. He Says He Wouldn’t Need Congress To Do It.

President Donald Trump reiterated his idea to give every American adult citizen $5,000 if the Republicans win the midterm elections, claiming he believes he could do it without the approval of Congress.

Trump first brought up the idea at the Republican midterm convention on Thursday. In a follow-up interview with CBS News political reporter Jack Fink, Trump was asked if Congress would have to approve such an expenditure: “Well, we think not. I think they will do it if we needed it. But we think not,” he said.

Under the U.S. Constitution, expenditures and the budget are controlled by Congress, not the President. In fact, Trump already lost a court challenge related to taking action on the issue of taxes and revenue.

Earlier this year, much of Trump’s original tariff policy was undone by the U.S. Supreme Court – tariffs are essentially a tax on goods and Trump could not unilaterally issue tariffs without citing congressional authority.

In that instance, Trump tried to use the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to implement the tariffs. In ruling against Trump, the Supreme Court wrote that the president had not identified “clear congressional authorization” to issue tariffs. It noted that the IEEPA “contains no reference to tariffs or duties.” The court defeat meant the U.S. government had to refund tens of billions of dollars to companies because the tax was illegal.

The claim also took place as the fiscal state of the nation and the government continue making headlines, especially as the national debt passed $40 trillion earlier this year.

In fact, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio is at an all-time high of 124 percent. Still, the president assured Fink that there was plenty of money.

“The country is doing so well, we’ve taken in trillions of dollars in tariffs and other things. We have now over $20 trillion worth of manufacturing plants and other investments being made in the United States, which is far greater than ever before,” Trump said to Fink.

This is not the first time Trump has talked about “dividends.” In February 2025, Trump talked about people receiving a dividend from the savings that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would generate; no checks were ever sent. Also, despite DOGE efforts, government spending and the budget deficit rose that year.

In November last year, Trump took to Truth Social to promise a $2,000 dividend that would, according to him, result from several policies including tariff revenue: “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone(.)”