US President Donald Trump has promised to pay a $5,000 federal “dividend” to every adult American if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in the November midterm elections.
Trump made the pledge on Wednesday at the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, where he urged voters to maintain Republican control of the House of Representatives and Senate.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Trump said, he would issue the payment “to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
Trump did not provide details on how the proposed dividend would be funded or administered, although he said the money would have to be spent within the United States. He attributed the proposal to what he described as the country’s economic strength and success.
The proposed payment could involve a massive federal expenditure. Reuters estimated that paying $5,000 to about 270 million American adults would cost approximately $1.35 trillion, while the Associated Press put the likely cost at more than $1 trillion.
Questions have also emerged over the legality and practical implementation of the proposal. US Vice President JD Vance appeared to suggest that wealthier Americans could potentially be excluded from receiving the payment, although Trump did not announce any income threshold.
The pledge comes as Republicans campaign to retain their congressional majorities in the November 3 midterm elections, in which all seats in the House and about one-third of Senate seats will be contested. Trump, despite not being on the ballot, has sought to make the election a referendum on his administration.
The proposal also echoes an earlier idea for a “DOGE dividend” funded from savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency. That proposal, which followed a suggestion by Elon Musk for $5,000 taxpayer refund cheques, never became a nationwide payment programme. Trump’s latest pledge remains a political promise rather than an existing federal benefit scheme.
