In a dramatic bid to energize voters ahead of November’s mid-term elections, US President Donald Trump has vowed to send $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans hold on to control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The sweeping pledge has immediately triggered scrutiny over whether it would be lawful, how much it would cost, and what funding source could realistically support it.
Is it legal?
Federal law bars offering money in exchange for votes and also places limits on promising federally financed benefits in return for political backing.
Mr Trump’s proposal appears to thread a narrow needle around those restrictions because it resembles a broad campaign promise and, as described, would apply to all adult Americans regardless of how they voted.
Even so, any such payment would still need Congress to approve it: the US Constitution prevents the president from spending Treasury money without an appropriation enacted into law.
Donald Trump currently faces voter anger over the rising cost of living
Mr Trump has floated similar ideas before that never materialised, including pledges of $2,000 payments funded by tariff revenue and $5,000 checks supposedly financed by savings from sweeping federal job cuts.
How much would it cost?
The United States is projected to have about 276.8 million adults aged 18 and over in 2026, and cutting $5,000 checks to each would total roughly $1.384 trillion.
Mr Trump said the benefit would go to “every American.” Limiting eligibility to US citizens would bring the price tag down to about $1.27tn.
During the Covid pandemic, Congress authorised checks only for income-eligible tax filers and their dependents — a more targeted design that would reduce the cost further.
Across 2020 and 2021, the three rounds of pandemic stimulus checks amounted to about $814 billion altogether, according to federal oversight data.
Would the checks make inflation worse?
Almost certainly. That is a major political risk for Mr Trump at a time when voters are already angry about the cost of living.
Economists sometimes refer to no-strings-attached mass cash payouts as “helicopter money” — a concept associated with central-bank-style distributions intended to lift an economy out of deflation, the opposite of the price pressures the United States is confronting now.
Democratic reaction to Donald Trump’s proposal has been withering
US consumer inflation is running at 3.4%, well above the central bank’s 2% long-term target. Pumping roughly $1.27tn into consumers’ hands would add fuel to demand in an economy where prices are already climbing, in part because of the energy shock tied to the Iran war.
Research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimated that pandemic-era fiscal stimulus — which also included aid for businesses — contributed about 2.6 percentage points to US inflation.
Could tariff money pay for Trump’s new promise?
Not in the near term. The federal government brought in a record $195bn in customs duties in fiscal 2025, which means a $1.4tn giveaway would swallow the equivalent of about seven years of revenue from Mr Trump’s trade policies.
Complicating matters further, the Supreme Court struck down Mr Trump’s signature tariffs in February, requiring the US Treasury to repay importers with interest, and net customs revenue fell into negative territory from May through July.
‘Corrupt’ and ‘Reckless’
Democrats responded to the proposal with scathing criticism.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, viewed as a potential Democratic presidential contender in 2028, denounced the pledge as coming from “the most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office.”
After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money.
The most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office. https://t.co/09i3Gb2zdY
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 10, 2026
“After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money,” Mr Newsom said on X.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said the promise fit a pattern of what he called a “fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency.”
“So after adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, driving it over an unprecedented $40 trillion, Trump now offers everyone a $5,000 political bribe (“the Trump Dividend”) if we elect Republicans to run Congress,” Mr Raskin said.
