House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) argued that President Donald Trump’s controversial $5,000 dividend proposal requires congressional approval, though he shied away from overt criticism of the measure.
Trump’s promise to divvy out $5,000 to every U.S. citizen at the Republicans’ midterm convention last week sent shockwaves around the country and within the Republican Party. Johnson described the proposal as a “new creative idea” and noted that the party had “zero time” to process, deliberate, or discuss the idea. When asked, he said Trump would need congressional approval for the move.
“I would assume yes, he’d need Congress to act, and that’s a creative idea. He launched it at our convention and got a lot of people excited. Of course, devil’s in the details. We have to figure all that out,” Johnson said.
Later in the interview, he pointed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s suggestion that the checks wouldn’t be added to the deficit but would instead come from tariff revenues.
“The way they think about it is like a business, right? As the president said himself, when a corporation makes money, the shareholders get a dividend, and he thinks of the American people as shareholders in this American dream, and that’s what they’re talking about,” Johnson said.
“So look, it’s one idea among many to continue the trend of putting money in the pockets of hardworking Americans. We’ll process it like we do everything else,” he added.
Other Republicans expressed more overt skepticism over the plan, including Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who said he understood what Trump was trying to accomplish but had “concerns.”
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“When it comes to additional checks going out the door, I do have concerns. I’m not sure how you’re going to be able to pay for that over the long term, and I think that the concerns expressed by some of my colleagues are correct,” he said.
A senior official told the Washington Examiner last week that the White House was engaging with Congress not just on how to fund the checks but also on possible vehicles to make good on the president’s promise. Pro-Trump members of Congress have explored avenues to make the proposal a reality through the legislative branch.