Trump’s Budget Chief Says $5,000 Dividend Proposal Coming After Midterms

The Trump administration’s budget director, Russell Vought, said on Sept. 15 that the White House will make a push after the midterms to send the $5,000 dividend payments unveiled by President Donald Trump this past week.

Speaking to the Daily Signal, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget said that the administration is waiting until the “other side of the election” to formulate a proposal to Congress.

“I think there’s a genius involved in what the president’s articulating and, you know, we’ll be ready when the moment comes,” he said of the dividend checks.

Vought was referring to the “Trump dividend” that the president mentioned in a speech at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention, held Sept. 9 and 10 in Dallas. The first-ever non-presidential year national party gathering was meant to boost Republican voter turnout.

In his speech, Trump said that the payments would be sent only if Republicans win both the House and the Senate. Other than that, the administration has provided few details about the plan.

Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC News on Sept. 10 that the payments would not be derived from taxpayer funds.

“It’s not tax money,” Lutnick said, adding that the administration would be able to “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.”

Vought said on Monday that U.S. tariff revenues and deficit-related savings under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was enacted last year would make it possible to send the payments.

“I think these things are able to help us with deficit reduction. And, you know, we’ll have that conversation,” he added.

While Trump said that the White House believes he doesn’t need Congress to send the payments, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in an interview on Sept. 13 that the administration will need legislation in the House and the Senate.

“I would assume, yes, he’d need Congress to act, and that’s a creative idea,” Johnson said in a CNN “State of the Union” interview on Sunday. With the midterms only a few weeks away, Republicans have only small majorities in the House and Senate, so it will take “some time” to push the proposal, he said.

“I never go out and give big commitments on the front end because I’ve got to work through it, and that’s what we do every single day,” he added.

Democrats have sharply criticized the proposal.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) wrote on X that the payment would “explode the deficit, drive up the cost of home and auto loans, and send inflation skyrocketing.” He asserted that Trump’s promise is a bid to “pay off” people to vote for Republicans in November.

On Monday, Trump doubled down on sending the payment in a Truth Social post, pointing to a $1,776 payment to U.S. service members and the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I will get the $5000 for adult citizens if the Republicans win the House and Senate,” he wrote, adding that people should go out and vote.