Page F4From§Eachthe midnight edition — 13 September 2026
The administration's position is that the $5,000 exists, that it exists in November, and that it exists only if Republicans hold both chambers, which is three facts about the money and none about where it comes from.
“Voters may accept Trump’s bribes, but the bond markets aren’t biting”, 10 September 2026 (Photo via Washington Examiner — the original report)
As it ran on the front
Let me start where the week actually starts, with a sentence badly served by its critics. On Monday, ahead of the G20 finance ministers in North Carolina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters the world is heavily in debt following the financial crisis and that growth is the way out. Growth is a plan. It is a plan without a number attached, but a number is a detail, and details are—
On Tuesday the number attached itself. Government bond yields rose in numerous countries, investors selling off amid concerns over inflation and mounting public debts; the U.S. ten-year exceeded 4.7 percent that morning, the thirty-year held above 5.2 percent. Our opponents call this a verdict on us. It is a global sell-off. Numerous countries. We are one of the countries, which is admittedly the country that sets what an American pays to borrow, but we have company.…
…(cont) By Wednesday the second, The Hill was filing it as a midterm headwind. That same Wednesday, the President's super PAC debuted a $1 million national buy narrated by Dana White and the President. On Friday the fourth, the Washington Examiner put the story in the driveway: long-term borrowing costs at heights not seen in nearly two decades, and the most immediate casualty of this panic is the American home buyer. That is a friendly paper. When I say the fundamentals are sound, understand that I am reading past my own mail.
So on Wednesday the ninth we acted. Treasury announced it would triple its debt repurchase cap, from $2 billion to $6 billion. Bond yields rose after the announcement; the Times reported investors were underwhelmed by the size of the purchases, and CBS found Wall Street analysts skeptical the buying can curb borrowing costs at all. Underwhelmed is a mood, and we do not govern by mood — though six billion is the instrument we brought to a debt over forty trillion, so I will take the mood under advisement.
That night in Dallas the President pledged a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America: $5,000, payable if Republicans hold the House and the Senate in November. He did not offer details on how the payments would work. Details are a Congress function. On Thursday, Steve Scalise said the details would "obviously have to be worked out by Congress," which is what I just said, and which is also the reverse of the President's position that no congressional approval is required. Put both on the record. One of them ages well.
Politico reported leaders were blindsided. The New York Post's headline over the fiscal conservatives carried the phrase "A dangerous arms race." The Daily Caller found convention attendees unmoved, one of them saying, "He's using the Democrats' tactics." That is a party thinking out loud, vigorously, in public. It is not a party that was told in advance.
Then Sen. Bernie Moreno filed legislation funding the checks through market access fees, which Fox News prices at $1.2 trillion. The Vice President says tariffs. The senator says market access fees. The President says no Congress. Three answers is not confusion; call it a robust menu.
Same day, $500 checks to about one million people the President says were massively overcharged for ACA coverage, in swing states, before the midterms. Asked by Laura Ingraham, "Why not just give the money now?", the answer went to the Democrats. Thursday's ten-year closed at roughly 4.96 percent, 1.3 basis points above its open, its highest close since April. Economists told CBS the payment would stoke inflation.
The Joint Economic Committee's analysis, released August 27, found the average family paying $3,800 more this year for groceries, housing and utilities than when the President took office. By Friday, Governor Newsom was calling the pledge bulls—. Gina Hinojosa, a Texas Democrat, backs the dividend if it is decoupled from the midterm outcome, the asterisk being the entire—
The money exists. It exists in November. It exists if—
While the Treasury Department pulls out all the stops to try to calm the bond market, the White House has apparently taken the opposite approach. During his headline speech at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas, President Donald Trump pledged to issue “a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for […]
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa announced she supports President Donald Trump’s idea for a $5,000 dividend to U.S. adults but only if it is decoupled from the 2026 midterm outcome, as he conditioned. “Right now, Americans are paying into a system that’s spending, at least, billions on grift, and it’s time for that…
Washington Examiner executive editor Bob Cusack voiced concerns over President Donald Trump’s proposal to send out checks if Republicans maintain control of Congress, highlighting the United States’s growing debt. “It is a problem,” Cusack said Thursday on C-Span’s Campaign 2026.
Many Democrats in Congress are on the growing list of critics calling out President Donald Trump for his Wednesday night vow to give US voters $5,000 each if they help Republicans win control of the Senate and House of Representatives—where they already have majorities—in the November midterm elections. "Nothing says confidence like…
Fox News anchor Bret Baier pressed Vice President Vance on President Trump’s pledge to give Americans $5,000 if Republicans keep control of Congress come November, saying critics would respond to the roughly $1.3 trillion payout as “bribing voters.” “I can hear the critics’ heads exploding,” Baier told Vance late Wednesday, hours after…
We speak to Richard Wolff, a prominent Marxist economist, about the economic fallout from the war on Iran, which recently reached the six-month mark. “Because it’s only been going on for a few months, the impact on the prices we pay is about to unload itself,” says Wolff.
President Trump vowed Wednesday to send a $5,000 "dividend" to every American citizen after the midterms, but only if Republicans hold onto control of Congress. He didn't offer details on how the payments would work.
President Donald Trump’s promise to send Americans a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans retain control of Congress after the 2026 elections is forcing the GOP to confront a divide that has been building for years: how far the party is willing to depart from traditional fiscal conservatism in pursuit of Trump’s populist economic agenda. The…
Welcome to The Hill's Business & Economy newsletter {beacon} Business & Economy Business & Economy The Big Story Trump sees backlash over $5K dividend pledge President Trump’s promise to distribute $5,000 to every U.S. adult if the GOP wins the midterms is drawing backlash from Republicans and Democrats as the president’s allies are…
Conservative fiscal hawks greeted President Trump's proposed $5,000 payout to Americans if Republicans hold the House and Senate in November with a frosty reception, even as some were reluctant to say so publicly.
After Trump promised taxpayers would not pay "one dime" for the ballroom, Republicans proposed $1 billion in taxpayer funds for it. Congress rejected the ask. NBC News, May 2026
Some GOP lawmakers and leaders said they had no notice about Trump's plan to propose $5,000 dividend checks if the GOP wins in November. Other Republicans say they are concerned about the plan's cost.
President Trump on Wednesday pitched a $5,000 "dividend" payment to every American, but only if Republicans win in the midterms. CBS News' Fin Gómez and Kelly O'Grady have the latest.
At the GOP midterm convention on Wednesday night, President Trump said the federal government would give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans stay in power after the midterms. CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe reports from the convention floor.
Click in for more news from The Hill {beacon} Healthcare Healthcare The Big Story Trump promises Obamacare rebates to people in swing states, right before midterms President Trump said he’s planning to send $500 checks to about 1 million people who he claims were “massively” overcharged for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage. Jacquelyn…
The 10-year yield rose to its highest level in three years, suggesting investors were underwhelmed by the details of a move to buy back government bonds.
President Trump pledged $5,000 to all American adults if Republicans retain control of Congress. You may not be able to take that to the bank.
"I'll meet with Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky... And within 24 hours, that war will be settled" - Trump, CNN town hall, 10 May 2023. CNN counted 53 separate occasions he promised it. CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
President Trump pledged to give every US citizen a $5,000 dividend Wednesday if Republicans keep the House and Senate after the midterm elections. “Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success …. I will issue a...
Trump promised taxpayers would not pay 'one dime' for the ballroom, then Republicans asked for $1 billion in taxpayer funds - Congress rejected it NBC News, May 2026
California Gov. Gavin Newsom dismissed President Donald Trump’s promise to give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of Congress as “bulls—.”
The president’s idea to hand every American adult a “dividend” if Republicans keep control of Congress likely would need congressional approval, exacerbate the deficit and lead to a rise in inflation, experts said.
Bond yields ticked up slightly on Thursday, after President Trump pledged to send a $5,000 dividend to every American adult if Republicans win the midterms. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond closed at roughly 4.96 percent, roughly 1.3 basis points above where it opened.
President Trump headlined the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, promising Americans $5,000 "dividends" if his party takes the midterms. CBS News' Ed O'Keefe reports.
The first-ever Republican midterm convention continued on Thursday in Dallas, where President Trump promised a $5,000 payment to every American if Republicans keep control of Congress. He's promoted similar payouts before, but hasn't yet followed through. Ed O'Keefe has more from Dallas.
Trump promised on CNN's town hall he'd settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours of meeting Putin and Zelensky - CNN counted 53 separate occasions he made that promise CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Vice President JD Vance has doubled down on President Trump's pledge to make $5,000 payments to all adult Americans if Republicans win the midterm elections, saying the money will come from tariffs. CBS News' Kathryn Watson breaks down why the pledge is dubious.
