Trump dangles $5,000 checks as debt surges — but only if GOP can clear major midterm hurdle

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump vowed to issue Americans a $5,000 "dividend" that could cost the federal government more than $1 trillion — but it's contingent on Republicans retaining control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections. Trump made the pledge Wednesday night during his nearly two-hour speech at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas, promising to issue the payment to every adult citizen if the GOP wins both the House and Senate in November. "Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," Trump said. FOLLOW FOX NEWS DIGITAL’S COVERAGE OF THE GOP’S 2026 MIDTERM CONVENTION The president's proposal comes as the national debt hovers just north of $40 trillion and the federal government recorded a budget deficit of roughly $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The payments could cost approximately $1.2 trillion, based on the roughly 240 million adult citizens in the United States, potentially adding significantly to the government’s eye-watering borrowing. It's unclear where the money would come from, but the motivation behind the idea is crystal clear — Trump wants to incentivize voters who are feeling a pocketbook squeeze to keep his party in power so his agenda is not brought to a screeching halt should one of the congressional chambers flip blue in this year's midterms. Vice President JD Vance suggested after Trump's speech that wealthy Americans could be excluded from the payments, potentially reducing the plan’s overall cost. "What the president is talking about is fundamentally a dividend for American workers," Vance told Fox News. He also defended the proposal's funding by pointing to the administration’s tariff revenue. "We’re taking an extraordinary amount of revenue because the president of the United States is standing up to both foreign companies but al…