Trump reaffirms his plan for $2,000 checks to Americans and suggests not needing congressional approval to achieve it

President Donald Trump reaffirmed Tuesday his promise to send tariff "dividend" checks of 2.000 to the U.S. middle class, emphasizing that such a proposal could likely be implemented without congressional approval. "I don’t think we would have to go the Congress route but you know, we’ll find out," Trump said in answering a reporter's question about whether he agreed with White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, who said in December that the checks would depend on what ends up happening in Congress and expected the Republican leader to bring his formal proposal before the legislature.

Throughout the last months, several important members of the Republican Party came to point out that Congress had to authorize the payments so that Trump could send them. One of them was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent himself, who explained last year during an interview with Fox Business that the checks would require congressional approval, asserting that "we need legislation for that." Also, Bessent, who is one of the most important members of the current Republican administration, had previously pointed out that the payments "could take many forms," including tax cuts.

During the White House press briefing, Trump argued that revenue from the tariffs, which came to generate $289 billion in 2025, would be used to write dividend checks and also to reduce the national debt, which stood at $38.4 trillion as of Jan. 9. The president added that there would be a revenue limit to receive the checks and noted, "I believe we can do that without Congress."