President says payments, to be sent in early October, are meant to offset cost of monthly insurance premiums Donald Trump has said the US government will send a one-time $90 payment to more than 20 million Americans enrolled in Medicare , the health insurance program for elderly people, to help offset the cost of their monthly…
Page H2From§Eachthe midnight edition — 4 October 2026
The ninety dollars Treasury mailed this month is installment one of the promised five thousand, and this podium will not be putting a date or a figure on installment two.
As it ran on the front
Let me start with the number in the news. The Treasury began mailing checks this month and the checks are ninety dollars. In Dallas the president said five thousand, and that Sunday he told reporters it would "happen 100 percent" if Republicans hold Congress, which is a conditional, and November has not occurred. On the tenth, in a recorded message, he alleged the prior administration had been "massively" overcharging people on the federal exchange and pledged five hundred dollar rebates to nearly a million of them. So you have five thousand, five hundred, ninety. That is a schedule. The ninety is the first installment. It is installment one. I am not going to put a date on installment two from this podium — or a figure, the figure is Treasury's — look, when Treasury has the second one, Treasury will have it, and I would not want to characterize a second one I have not been given. Did I say installment? I would characterize it as a check. A check that went out.
On mechanics. The Treasury secretary told the House Financial Services Committee on the fifteenth that the department is examining whether it can issue the money without authorization from Congress, and examining is not doing. The critics here are our own house: Senator Collins of Maine called the proposal "extraordinarily costly" and said that from the few details available, it seems the dividend would carry no income cap. Senator Marshall of Kansas, asked at the state fair debate about a $1.2 trillion price tag, shifted. Representative Lawler of New York asked how you pay for it. Representative Flood of Nebraska said the priority needs to be the military. National Review called it reckless. Guy Benson called it a "disastrous idea." The vote the checks require sits with a senator who has said they will not fund them. That is a party conducting a debate in the open, and the ninety dollars went out during it.…
…(cont) Third, energy. The special envoy and the president's son-in-law flew to Moscow on September 4 and then to Kyiv; by the sixth the Kyiv leg was "encouraging," by the seventh there was "substantive progress" and a three-day pause both sides had agreed to; on the ninth the president took a call with Mr. Putin and pronounced it great. At some point in that effort, by the reporting, Mr. Putin raised with the two of them a sale of Russian energy assets — the assets Ukraine agreed not to hit. You could stand up a second delegation to hear an energy proposal. You could open an office for it. The two of them were in the room, the room was paid for, and I would call that efficiency. And I would note the word used is sale, which is a commercial term, and commerce is not — commerce is ordinary.
On the advertising. There is a campaign praising the president's presidency, it was financed out of the Department of Homeland Security, and it ran at the president's direction. That department's appropriation is border security. The ads concern the presidency. The presidency sits inside the country, and the border is the edge of the country, so the country is the thing inside the border, so an advertisement about the man inside the border is in a broad sense a border — I hear it. I hear what that sounded like. Strike it. The department has latitude, the material is informational, and the public benefits from knowing who is running the government they live inside of.
Which brings me to the comparison you intend to run. Ninety dollars to a senior this month, against the president's nine largest oil and gas holdings, which CNBC found had risen between $1.5 million and $4.4 million since the war with Iran; against 750,000 people the administration announced it is removing from Affordable Care Act coverage as "fraudulently" enrolled, a claim health policy experts met with skepticism; against an independent analyst's September 3 tally of as many as 10 million who have lost coverage under this president. Four ledgers. They do not touch. I have been shown nothing that wires them together, and the wiring is not something I will do from here. Ninety against four point four million is a unit problem. One is a check. One is a holding, and a holding is not income until you sell it. I will take the rest of this Monday. I will be here Monday.
The receipts
President Trump announced Friday his administration will pay out a total of around $2 billion in checks to over 20 million seniors to offset Medicare Part B premium costs. In an evening Truth Social post, the president said this money would be sourced from the Medicare Improvement Fund, which he called a “pointless ‘Slush Fund.’”...
Trump promised to settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office, on 53 separate occasions, CNN counted CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump AlliesPresident Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of interest.
· Trump says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to energy target ceasefire from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Witkoff touts 'substantive progress' after peace talks with Ukraine, Russia from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Trump envoys hail ‘encouraging’ talks in Kyiv to end Russia-Ukraine war from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Witkoff, Kushner to visit Moscow and Kyiv in renewed push to end Russia-Ukraine war from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Analysis Finds Up to 10 Million People Have Lost Healthcare Coverage During Trump's Second Term from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Treasury confirms plan to auto-enroll millions of children in Trump accounts from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· The Big Beautiful Bill Is Starting to Bite Before the Election from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· 'Sickening and Unacceptable': Anger Mounts as Trump and Vance Gleefully Rip Healthcare From 750,000 from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Many Americans are relying on multiple forms of credit to cover expenses. When is it a warning sign? from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Trump gave ‘the red meat,’ Vance was playing for independents: Bob Cusack from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Fox News’s Baier presses Vance on Trump’s $5K dividend promise from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Pritzker: Vance is Trump's 'chief bootlicker' from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Bessent Defends Faltering Bond Market Intervention from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent says Treasury is ‘examining’ ability to cut $5,000 checks without Congress from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent’s move to tamp down rising rates backfires as bond yields jump, stocks tumble from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· The bond market is revolting — and your mortgage is the first casualty from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Fiscal hawks skeptical of Bessent’s claim that US can ‘grow our way out’ of $40 trillion debt from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Bessent blasts Warren’s ‘sciolistic’ letter about yen policy from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia district attorney insinuates Trump is a ‘35-time felon,’ calling $5,000 dividend a bribe from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Voters have a blunt message for Trump about his idea to dole out $5,000 checks from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Why Donald Trump has a Joe Biden problem from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Does Trump have a 'Biden problem' on the economy? from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend falls flat with GOP senators from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump sees backlash over $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump plan to raise debt limit on shaky ground from the morgue, 26 Aug 2026
· 5 things to know about Trump's $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Vance strikes back at concern $5,000 Trump dividend will stoke debt: ‘Wealth will go back to the people’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Marshall backtracks on support for $5,000 Trump dividend in Kansas Senate debate from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Vance and MAGA Inc. work to defend Roger Marshall in redder Kansas from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Roger Marshall Sued 700 Patients for Debts; 81 Were Arrested. Now He’s a Senator. from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Conservatives would scream ‘bloody murder’ if Democratic president offered dividend to maintain power: Guy Benson from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Will Trump's payout promises boost Republican appeal to white women? from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans need a Reagan-style vision to win the battle over America's future from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Trump’s promised $5,000 ‘dividend’ checks: What to know from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Reckless $5,000 ‘Dividend’ from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans bet the House on Trump from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Axelrod dismisses the idea of the proposed $5000 ‘Trump dividend’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump pledges $5K 'Trump dividend' if Republicans hold onto Congress from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump says $5K dividend checks to Americans will 'happen 100 percent' from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Lawler deflects on supporting Trump's $5K dividend pledge: 'How do you pay for it?' from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· GOP rep says priority 'needs to be the military,' not $5K checks from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· Susan Collins calls Trump’s $5,000 dividend proposal with no cap ‘extraordinarily costly’ from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Bret Baier presses Paxton on Trump $5K dividend payment support from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Gavin Newsom calls Trump’s $5K voter payout ‘bulls—’ and a ‘desperate’ power grab from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Trump pitches $5,000 checks, but only if GOP wins House and Senate from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump's $5,000 payments would reignite inflation, economists say from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Why Trump's promised $5,000 payments to Americans are unlikely to happen from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bond yields rise modestly after Trump's dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· GOP leaders blindsided by Trump’s promise of $5K checks from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump promises Obamacare rebates to people in swing states from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Steve Scalise says details of $5,000 dividends would "obviously have to be worked out by Congress" from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend pledge divides Republicans over spending from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Many Republicans skeptical about Trump plan to tie $5,000 dividends to GOP wins from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Anger Grows Over 'Pathological Liar-in-Chief' Donald Trump's $5,000 Midterm Bribes from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Spiking Bond Yields Pay the Rich and Squeeze Everyone Else from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump-aligned group releases first midterm ads — and they’re all about him from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· The Memo: Bond market turmoil heightens midterm risks for Trump and GOP from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Plan To Cut $5,000 Checks For Americans Not Landing With Many Midterm Convention Attendees from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa backs Trump’s $5,000 dividend but rejects conditional payout from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Voters may accept Trump’s bribes, but the bond markets aren’t biting from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· In Trump's Second Term, Average US Family Forced to Spend $3,800 More on Essentials from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Why not to bank on Trump's $5,000 dividend checks happening from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump shares details on $5,000 dividend with CBS News Texas from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Some Republicans Balk at Trump’s $5,000 ‘Dividend’ Offer from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· The political risk behind Trump’s $5,000 pledge: From the Politics Desk from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bob Cusack raises concerns over Trump’s $5,000 check proposal: ‘Deficits matter, debt matters’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Global sell-off in government bonds intensifies from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump vs. the Bond Market from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· The United States House of Representatives passes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 by 227 votes to 203. After being sent to the United States Senate for a vote, the Senate's parliamentarian found tha from the morgue, 19 Dec 2017
· The attorney general of New York announces she is suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors, President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. (CNBC) from the morgue, 14 Jun 2018
· Trump gambles big on midterm elections with convention spotlight from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Vulnerable Republicans divided over wisdom of Trump’s midterm convention from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Republican strategist knocks Trump for not spending more on GOP candidates from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Republicans ready for 'very hasty' 'Trump-a-palooza' convention in Texas from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· Some Republicans are planning to skip Trump’s GOP convention from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Trump promises $5,000 ‘dividend’ for adult Americans if Republicans win midterms from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.