DALLAS - There's a push in the Senate to turn President Donald Trump's pitch of $5,000 checks for Americans into a reality, with a couple of caveats along the way.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, plans to introduce legislation that would codify the dividend checks and wants it done as soon as the upcoming midterm elections are over, when the balance of power could tilt in favor of Democrats.
But the money, Moreno told Fox News Digital, wouldn't come from taxpayers' coffers. Instead, he wants to approve certain structural tariffs to act as a "market access fee" that would find its way back into the pockets of Americans.
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And it can only be spent in the U.S.
"This dividend would be something that is allowing working Americans to share in the prosperity of this country," Moreno said. "The money would be used only here in the United States, so it's not to be used outside the United States. I think it would provide a big economic boost to our economy."
"So, if you're a company out there, anywhere in the world, you want to sell your products in America, you either make it here in the United States, or you pay a fee to enter our market," he continued. "That money goes to funding this one-time dividend."
Trump floated the plan Wednesday night during the Republicans' midterm convention in Dallas, where the GOP and several - but not all - vulnerable incumbents and candidates flocked to energize their base and pitch why they should maintain control of Congress.
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The cost, however, could be an eye-popping $1.2 trillion. Moreno argued that the cost was worth it and noted that despite the steps Republicans have taken to lower costs, Americans are still feeling the crunch.
"It's about providing relief," Moreno said. "It's acknowledgment that during the Biden years, it was so bad for working families, that, despite what we've already done in 18 months, it just isn't enough to get working families to basically so that they're level, right?"
"Because they're underwater right now," he continued. "I think it's extremely important for us to understand in elected office that working families are struggling."
For the plan to work, Republicans would need to maintain their control of both chambers of Congress, and it comes as the nation's federal deficit skyrocketed to $40 trillion last month and as the GOP has consistently pitched itself as the party of fiscal responsibility against Democrats' wanton federal spending.
Trump's plan scored one unlikely ally in House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., leader of a pack of fiscal hawks who routinely scoff at Congress' inability to tackle the nation's debt.
"Hardworking American taxpayers probably deserve a tax rebate. We're gonna have to discuss, you know, how large a rebate that would be. But I think, again, American taxpayers deserve relief from taxation. I think that's a good idea," Harris told Fox News Digital in an interview during the GOP midterm convention.
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Harris said such a plan "would have to go through Congress," and he suggested that the party-line budget reconciliation process would be needed to skirt Democratic opposition.
The Senate's top Republican agreed with Harris.
"It smells very much like a reconciliation issue," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital.
Thune said Senate Republicans would be willing to work with Trump and his team to get the dividends done, but noted that until Wednesday night it was a proposal that "we hadn't heard before." He argued that the idea showed the difference between the GOP and Democrats seeking power.
"I think it illustrates the clear contrast between us and the Democrats about how you want to, how you see government functioning," Thune said. "And one is in giving more power, control, money in the pockets of the American people, and the other, giving more power to, you know, for people in Washington to tell you how to run your life."
And Republicans will likely have to rely on reconciliation to do it, given that Democrats are already slamming the idea.
"Donald Trump is a known liar. This is the biggest liar to ever serve in government, period. And look, the dividend is not happening," Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital. "He promised a dividend on tariffs, that didn't happen. He promised a dividend on Doge, that didn't happen. He promised some strange new dividend from Air Force One, what, six months ago. That never happened."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recoiled and slammed the move as emblematic of Trump's presidency being "so failed and broken, he is resorting to trying to bribe the American people for their votes."
"An insult to Americans, to democracy, and an admission of how absolutely screwed he is," Schumer said on X.
Moreno countered that when it comes to dumping tens of billions of dollars outside the U.S., Democrats were all on board but didn't show the same vigor when it came to seeing money flow back into America.
"So look, at the end of the day, these politicians are all hypocritical. They love helping anybody on earth except for working Americans," Moreno said. "They love giving money to foreign countries. They love funding endless wars. They love having us solve the entirety of the world's problems. When it comes to helping working Americans, all of a sudden, there's no money. What we're saying is no."
