'God no!' Josh Hawley facing friendly fire from GOP over 'insane' stimulus plan

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wants to use the revenue raised from President Donald Trump's tariffs to cut $600 checks to Americans — but his idea is already being panned by his Republican Senate colleagues, Semafor reported on Tuesday.

“It probably would be the most popular thing that this Congress would do. Which means, of course, Republicans would be against it,” said Hawley, who got the idea from Trump, who proposed it last week.

Multiple Senate Republicans expressed outrage at the idea.

“Oh God, no, insane. Two reasons. Number one, we have a $37 trillion debt ... number two, it’s extraordinarily inflationary. It’s fiscal stimulus,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH).

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) agreed, saying, “Once we’re down to a surplus, that’s fine. We’re about $2 trillion away from that. So no, I would oppose it. People love spending money and granting new tax cuts when we can’t afford it. We’re $37 trillion in debt and running $2 trillion a year deficits, some time this madness just has to end.”

Notably, despite their fears over the debt, both Johnson and Moreno voted for Trump's tax cut megabill, which is projected to add $2 trillion to the deficit — although Republican leadership has tried to discredit the nonpartisan analyses showing this.

Hawley, for his part, also voted for the legislation, even while loudly criticizing its steep cuts to Medicaid. He is currently trying to pass legislation that would undo some of those Medicaid cuts, which, like the tariff rebate proposal, has yet to attract any significant support from fellow Republicans.

Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that his tariffs are raising revenue from other countries that have supposedly ripped off the U.S. in trade; economists broadly warn that tariffs amount to a hidden sales tax on American consumers that drives up prices, particularly when the tariffs apply to manufacturing inputs and raw materials.