House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, declined on Sunday to guarantee that Americans will receive the $5,000 payments promised by President Donald Trump last week if the GOP maintains its majority in Congress in this year's midterm election, raising questions about the viability of one of the administration's signature economic proposals. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment on Sunday morning. During the first-ever Republican National Committee midterm convention in Dallas, Trump announced on Wednesday that every adult American citizen would receive a $5,000 payment if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress after the midterms.
"Because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," the president said. "Very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders." But when Johnson appeared on NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday and was asked by moderator Kristen Welker whether Americans could count on receiving the money, the House speaker would not make that promise. "I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that like they have to do everything else," Johnson said.
Welker pressed again, noting that Trump himself had already promised the payments. "I'll work with the president hand-in-hand as I do all the time," Johnson responded. "And we'll deliver for the American people.
That's the promise." Johnson's response is significant since Congress, not the White House, would have to authorize and fund any nationwide payment program. Constitutional and budget experts have noted that the president cannot direct the U.S. Treasury to send more than $1 trillion in payments without congressional approval.
Marc Goldwein, the senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank in Washington, told the that Trump has no authority to send money to Americans without approval from Congress. Goldwein added that dividends are something that companies pay when there’s a surplus, but the U.S. is running $2 trillion annual deficits and has $40 trillion in debt. "I just heard on your program Speaker Johnson hemming and hawing because even he can't endorse what President Trump has been saying like this idea that everybody's going to get $5,000," he said.
"I think that tells you everything you need to know that that's just not going to happen." Trump kept the requirements for getting a dividend check extremely vague during his speech, saying that every adult citizen would be eligible. There are an estimated 245 million adult American citizens around the world, making the price tag on the measure an estimated $1.22 trillion. However, Trump also said that it was for every adult citizen "in the United States of America," which could exclude about 2 million expatriates who live abroad but maintain American citizenship.
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