Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) shot down President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $2,000 tariff “dividend” checks to Americans, warning that the country simply “can’t afford” it.
“We have to address the deficit problem. We are on borrowed time here,” Johnson said on Fox Business “Mornings with Maria” on Monday. “If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just making cash payments to Americans.”
Earlier this month, Trump proposed to send Americans at least $2,000 next year from U.S. tariff revenue, a plan Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified last week “would be for working families,” noting income limit for recipients.
Bessent also teased that the tariff checks could materialize in “lots of ways,” citing a possible tax decrease.
The president’s ambitious announcement comes amid both Democrats and Republican voters disapproving how the administration is handling the economy, with Trump continuously pushing lies about grocery prices and inflation.
Some within Trump’s GOP outright slammed the proposal, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) calling it a “crazy idea.”
On Monday, Johnson told host Maria Bartiromo, “We can’t afford it.”
“I wish [we were] in a position to return the American public their money, but we’re not,” Johnson said, warning again about the U.S. deficit.
The Wisconsin senator previously suggested “whatever revenue we get from whatever source ought to go to try and bring down those deficits.”
The conservative Tax Foundation estimated that sending $2,000 checks to every American taxpayer who earns less than $100,000 would cost about $279 billion and cost more than Trump’s tariff revenues can generate.
“President Trump had deficits. He’s [had] about $800 billion, Obama his last four years [had] $550 billion a year, [and] now we’re $2 trillion [in deficits]. Completely unacceptable,” Johnson said. “We have to start focusing on that and doing something about it.”