A Trump official was thrashed on Wednesday over his idea on how Americans should use a possible big cash injection from President Donald Trump.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he hopes that Americans who were promised $2,000 checks from the president will hold onto them and save the money, The New Republic reports.
It's still unclear if the checks will be delivered. However, Bessent told Fox News' Brett Baier during a "disastrous" interview that made him sound unsure about Trump's claims that tariffs would bring in extra cash to support the stimulus checks. Baier asked him if the "dividends of tariff money to every American would be inflationary."
“Well, there are a lot of things that are gonna happen next year, and that could be one of them,” Bessent said. “And maybe we could persuade Americans to save that.”
Bessent also said that parents whose children are born between 2025 and 2028 could possibly put that money into their kid's "Trump accounts," which the government plans to add $1,000 for these children into these accounts and is encouraging parents to add up to $5,000 each year.
Bessent argues that the accounts could give "disillusioned young people a stake in the economy" and provide a "backdoor" to privatizing Social Security.
But Americans are facing serious worries over the rising cost of living and inflation amid cuts to SNAP and rising health care costs. So the plan being that people won't immediately spend a $2,000 check to fight inflation means "we're in some serious trouble," The New Republic reports.
The administration has not set a date or announced when the checks would arrive.