Trump doubles down on $2K handouts as own Cabinet member knocks plan

President Donald Trump doubled down Monday on his pledge to send Americans payments of $2,000 — despite his own Treasury secretary contradicting his plan just a day earlier.

“All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump’s renewed pledge comes just a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent poured cold water on the idea of sending Americans $2,000 checks by suggesting that the president could have been making a generic reference to proposals to eliminate tax on tips and Social Security. Bessent was promptly ridiculed online by critics, some alleging him to have been “in damage control.”

Trump first floated the idea on Saturday, proposing to use money earmarked for the Affordable Care Act to instead be sent directly to Americans to purchase their own health insurance. His remarks Monday suggest that the president had shifted his thinking and now believes the source of the funding should be revenue from his tariffs, which stand on the brink of being ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.