Sen. Ron Johnson on Monday pushed back against President Trump’s proposal to issue $2,000 “tariff dividend” checks to Americans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, arguing the money should instead go toward reducing the federal deficit.
Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings With Maria” that he supports the concept in principle but believes restoring the nation’s fiscal stability should take precedence.
“We’re $38 trillion in debt,” he said. “We’ve averaged $1.89 trillion deficits over the last five years. In the next 10 years, the projection’s about $26 trillion from accumulated deficits.”
“We have to address the deficit problem. We are on borrowed time here. So many people are whistling by the graveyard. If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that oughta be applied to reduce the deficit,” the Wisconsin Republican added.
Trump has repeatedly suggested issuing tariff-funded payments to the public. Earlier this month, he proposed $2,000 checks for Americans below a certain income threshold, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated would be about $100,000 a year for families, the New York Post reported.
The plan would need approval from the Republican-controlled Congress, but Johnson and other GOP lawmakers have signaled that the proposal is unlikely to move forward.
“We can’t afford it,” Johnson reiterated Monday. “I wish we were in a position to return the American public their money, but we’re not. Again, we’ll have at least a $2 trillion deficit this year.
“That compares to prior to the pandemic, President Trump had deficits of $800 billion. [Barack] Obama, his last four years, $550 billion a year. Now, we’re $2 trillion? Completely unacceptable. We have to start focusing on that and doing something about it.”
The president’s proposal came just days after Democrats won key off-year elections in New Jersey and Virginia by emphasizing affordability. It also followed Supreme Court arguments over Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy broad “reciprocal” and “trafficking” tariffs on dozens of countries.
IEEPA tariffs are a central pillar of Trump’s trade agenda and have generated roughly $90 billion in revenue between their rollout and Sept. 23, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, The Post added.
Between Sept. 30, 2024, and Aug. 31, the United States collected $195.9 billion in tariff revenue.
According to an estimate from Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, Trump’s proposed $2,000 dividend payments would cost about $300 billion if limited to individuals earning under $100,000.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday acknowledged that the Trump administration faces growing skepticism over its economic record, issuing a plea for patience ahead of what he predicted would be an eventual “economic boom.”
He noted that, after years of inflation under then-President Joe Biden, turning the economy around – signs of which are already visible – would take some time.
“We get it and we hear you, and we know that there’s a lot of work to do,” Vance said during a Breitbart News event. “As much progress as we’ve made, it’s going to take a little time for Americans to feel that.”
It also highlighted the White House’s continued effort to refine its economic message ahead of next year’s midterm elections — and in the wake of Republican losses in deep blue New Jersey and Virginia earlier this month.
Vance acknowledged that Americans remain frustrated by persistent affordability challenges that have dragged down the administration’s approval ratings, including the cost of groceries. At one point, he even undercut one of Trump’s frequently cited indicators of economic progress — a drop in egg prices since January — by noting that they are still too expensive for many households.
“If you’re an American who’s just struggling to get by, you work hard, you pay your taxes, you want your kids to have good opportunities. And then the price of eggs goes from $2 a dozen to $8 a dozen under the Biden administration, and then it goes from $8 a dozen to maybe $6.50 a dozen,” Vance said. “Well, to you that is still a major problem.”
