Johnson Raises Doubts About Trump's $5K Checks

President Trump's promised "Trump Dividend" checks may not be his to hand out. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Trump's plan to send $5,000 to every adult citizen would need congressional approval, even though Trump maintains his administration could move ahead on its own, reports Axios. "He'd need Congress to act," Johnson said in a CNN interview. Trump has framed the payments—potentially costing more than $1.3 trillion—as contingent on Republicans holding the House and Senate, and says they'd be financed through tariffs, investment gains, and other revenue.

"We have had zero time, of course, to process that, deliberate, discuss it," said Johnson, who called Trump's idea "creative." Politico notes that he seemed to raise the suggestion that any such money would not be doled out in physical checks. "I think what he was articulating there ... is that he's saying that if you want more money in your pocket, you have to keep Republicans in charge," Johnson told CNN's Jake Tapper. In a separate NBC interview, declined to commit that the checks would be sent, instead saying, "I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that like they have to do everything else."