With Election Day less than a month away, President Donald Trump is touting two federal cash-payment programs already underway while renewing a much larger $5,000 check promise contingent on Republicans retaining Congress.
On Friday, Trump announced one-time $90 payments to 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries. A day later, he revived an earlier promise to give every adult U.S. citizen $5,000 — but only if Republicans retain control of Congress in November.
"If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 Midterm Elections, I'm going to give all Adult Citizens in the United States of America, $5,000," Trump said in a Truth Social video post Saturday. The president made a similar pledge at the Republican National Committee's first midterm convention in Dallas last month.
Trump hasn't provided any details on who would authorize the payments and where the money would come from.
Those claims came on the heels of $500 Obamacare "refund" checks that began going out last week to roughly 950,000 people who bought unsubsidized coverage through the federal marketplace.
The $90 payments to certain eligible Medicare Part B enrollees are scheduled to arrive this month, funded through the Medicare Improvement Fund. The $500 Obamacare payments are already being distributed to certain full-price HealthCare.gov customers.
A Reuters analysis found 71% of the Obamacare money — $339 million — is going to residents of 13 states with some of the country's most competitive Senate and gubernatorial races, though eligibility is based on insurance status, not voting status.
Together, the flurry of offers of direct cash payments comes as Republicans head into the final stretch of a midterm campaign dominated by concerns about prices and the economy.
But the $5,000 "Trump dividend" remains just a promise and Trump has been extremely light on details, particularly on where the money would come from and who would need to authorize it. Sending $5,000 to every adult citizen would cost roughly $1.2 trillion and require congressional approval.
Some Republicans have also raised concerns about its effect on the deficit and inflation.
Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., told Reuters last month he would "throw everything of my heart and soul" into stopping the proposal, warning it could push interest rates higher. And Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called the plan a "political bribe" in a Sept. 10 interview with CNN, and said Congress controls federal spending.
The White House and offices of Reps. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Polling suggests the idea isn't a sure-fire political winner.
A Rasmussen Reports survey found likely voters essentially split, 47% to 48%, on the proposal. Just 15% said it would affect their vote. A Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin found 70% opposed the payments, while an Economist/YouGov survey found 57% of registered voters doubted Trump would actually deliver them even if Republicans retained Congress.
In the past, Trump has made several promises to send cash payments to Americans — and didn't deliver.
In February 2025, the Trump administration floated a $5,000 "DOGE dividend" check, claiming the money would come from savings from the cuts enacted by the now-defunct, Elon Musk-led "Department of Government Efficiency." Those payments never materialized.
Then, in November, Trump proposed a reciprocal tariff-funded dividend payment of at least $2,000 per person. The Supreme Court struck down the tariffs in February of this year, and no checks were ever issued.
The pattern of offering cash payments directly to voters stretches back to Trump's first term. Six weeks before the 2020 election, Trump promised 33 million Medicare beneficiaries $200 prescription-drug cards "in coming weeks" — but the cards never went out.
Still, the Trump administration delivered a $1,776 "Warrior Dividend" to roughly 1.5 million service members last year, and Congress approved pandemic stimulus payments during his first term.
