President Donald Trump wants to send Americans $2,000 checks as a “tariff rebate.” Senate Republicans, however, are far from convinced.
Speaking to The Hill on Wednesday, various top Republicans in the Senate added to the growing skepticism surrounding Trump’s new tariff check proposal. As is commonly the case with matters involving federal spending, the senators’ concerns largely revolved around the national debt, which hit $38 trillion in October after growing at a historic rate during Trump’s second term, though they did not dismiss the checks proposal outright.
“I’ve also heard suggestions that they would apply any tariff revenue to debt repayment, which I think is a really good idea,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “So, we’ll look forward and await any suggestions they might have.
“The amount of revenue coming in from the tariffs is considered to be substantial at this point and hopefully can be put to a useful purpose, in my view one of which would be repaying the debt.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, chair of the Senate GOP’s policy committee, also told The Hill that paying down the debt would be her “preferred route.”
“I think we need to have a more fleshed-out plan. Does it go to everybody?” Capito said. “I think my preferred route, quite honestly, would be to pay down the debt, but I want to hear out his program.”
Sen. James Lankford, vice chair of the Senate Republican Conference, came down more definitively against the checks proposal.
“Any income that’s coming in from anywhere is reducing the deficit at this point,” Lankford said, noting the national debt is now nearly $40 trillion. “Whatever dividend that would be paid… would still add to our debt.”
Trump has floated the idea of payments to American taxpayers from tariff revenue in the past, but brought the concept back to the forefront after affordability issues drove major election wins for Democrats in early November. The idea, as he put forward, would distribute $2,000 checks to every American adult making under a certain income threshold.
According to calculations from the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Trump’s proposal would cost roughly $600 billion, even with high-income individuals excluded. The Treasury Department had only collected around $136 billion from tariffs through the end of July.