What's the status of the $2000 stimulus checks? Trump 'wants to make it happen'
- President Donald Trump floated a new idea on Nov. 9 to send a $2,000 “dividend” to most people.
- Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Nov. 12 that President Donald Trump is "committed" to the plan.
- It's the latest in a string of plans to give money back to Americans that have yet to come to fruition.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Nov. 12 that President Donald Trump is "committed" to a $2000 tariff rebate dividend payment for most Americans, the latest in a string of plans to give money back to Americans that have yet to come to fruition.
"The president made it clear he wants to make it happen," Leavitt told reporters at the White House. "So his team of economic advisers are looking into it."
Trump originally floated the idea in a Truth Social post Nov. 9.
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump said, suggesting that the dividend would come from tariff revenue.
The administration has provided little details on how the funds would be distributed, who would qualify or when the plan would take effect. In another Truth Social post, Trump said that "Republicans should give money directly to your personal health savings accounts." In early October, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., had suggested a $2,000 stimulus check for families making under $100,000 a year to offset rising costs.
Are we getting a stimulus check in 2025?
This is not the first time this year that Trump has floated the idea of sending checks to Americans.
In July, Trump said he was “thinking about” a $600 tariff rebate, an idea that was then introduced in a bill by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri called the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025. However, it did not make it out of committee.
Earlier in the year, Trump voiced support for a $5,000 check from savings produced by the Department of Government Efficiency. Nothing came of those discussions, either.
It’s unclear what will happen with this new plan.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan nonprofit that studies fiscal policy, projected that Trump's proposal to send $2,000 rebate checks would cost $600 billion a year - about double what the United States is expected to generate from the new duties on imports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested in an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” on Nov. 9 that Americans could see that money in ways other than a check.
"The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms," Bessent said. "You know, it could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president's agenda -- you know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans."
The last time cash was directly distributed to Americans was during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Trump and later President Joe Biden issued stimulus checks issued ranging from $600 to $1,400 per person to bolster the economy.
Contributing: Maria Francis, Joey Garrison