Republicans Pour Cold Water On Trump’s $2,000 Check Proposal
President Donald Trump wants to send $2,000 checks to American workers, but the proposal faces tough prospects on Capitol Hill.
After Republicans’ disappointing election performance in early November, Trump focused on voters’ concerns about affordability and made tariff revenue reduction checks central to that effort. A wide range of Republicans told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday that they don’t support the idea, arguing that tariff revenue should be used to pay down the debt, not four-figure checks. (RELATED: Trump announces reduced tariffs on grocery staples including beef and coffee amid affordability threats for Americans)
“My encouragement would be to reduce the deficit,” North Carolina Republican Sen. Ted Budd said Thursday, noting that the government spends more on debt interest payments than on national defense.
“Ultimately, that’s what will deprive people of future opportunities is the interest on the debt,” Budd added. “So let’s work to eliminate the deficit and reduce the debt.”
“My opinion is to pay down the debt because it gives us as much trouble as anything else,” Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville told DCNF.This would help the economy. This would help bring down prices. This would help ease the tax burden.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 02: U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office of the White House September 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“We’re going to pay a dividend of at least $2,000 to the people – to low-, middle- and moderate-income people -,” Trump told an audience at the US-Saudi Investment Forum on Wednesday.
The proposed $2,000 checks come as the national debt nears record levels and the government ran a deficit of nearly $1.8 trillion last fiscal year. Although the president did not specify the precise size of the checks or their frequency, some economists have expressed concern that the rebate checks could increase budget deficits.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the tariff dividend checks would require an act of Congress to disburse. Republican leaders seem skeptical of the idea so far.
“I would like to see it [tariff revenue] pay off the debt,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters when asked about the checks proposal.
Thune added that he would consider any proposal the administration puts forward, but that he had not heard from the president on the matter.
The controls also appear to face deep opposition from leading fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans, who have shown themselves willing to thwart Trump in the first year of his second term.
“We don’t have any money to give out,” Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told the DCNF. “We’re $2 trillion in the hole.”
“I don’t agree with that,” North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said of the proposed $2,000 payments.
Tillis and Paul were among five Republican senators who voted to end the president’s power to impose tariffs on Brazil. Paul also supported the bipartisan effort to block the president from imposing tariffs on trading partners Canada and the United States.
It is unlikely that all GOP lawmakers will oppose the president’s check proposal. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley unveiled a bill in July to send working-class Americans rebate checks using revenue from Trump’s tariffs.
A White House official told DCNF that the president is committed to formulating economic policies that benefit the American working class, citing the tax cuts passed in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July.
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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