JACK FINK:
00:00:41
Last night, you proposed Trump dividends, giving every American $5,000-- American citizen, if they have-- Adult. adult citizens $5,000. And I'm wondering, would Congress need to approve that? Well, we think not. I think they will do it if we needed it, but we think not. The country is doing so well. We've taken in trillions of dollars in tariffs and other things. We have now over $20 trillion worth of manufacturing plants and other investments being made in the United States, which is far greater than ever before. And we think it's something that would be good. We do have one proviso, and that's that the money be spent-- people spend their money in the United States. We don't want to have that money spent in other countries. And we think it's something that's really good, popular, and it's a great infusion.
ELIZABETH COOK:
00:01:34
It's important to note, this is not the first time broad-based payments to Americans have been brought up. Back in 2020 and 2021, Congress approved checks to US citizens during COVID. And in 2025, Trump floated the idea of sending $2,000 dividend funded by tariffs. Now, in that same year, US service members were approved for Warrior Dividends. And this year, Trump Account child investment funds were approved by Congress. CBS News, of course, covering this story from all angles for you. Standing by for us, MoneyWatch Correspondent Kelly O'Grady. But first, let's get to CBS News executive director for the White House and politics, Fin Gómez. Fin, thank you so much for being with us. Should Americans bank on becoming $5,000 richer? Look, if past is prologue, it's unclear. There's not a great track record here, but I will say I talked to several Republicans here at this convention, including lawmakers and some senior party officials. Most were taken aback by the announcement last night made by the president. There's still questions remaining, even with the interview today, about how this would exactly work, how it would be implemented. Would Congress have to be involved? It did come, as I said, as a surprise, and some conservatives I spoke to didn't like it, frankly. They said they didn't like government handouts. But others say, look, this is meant to help the middle class at a time when they're really going through a lot of economic pain, and there hasn't been enough criticism on the other side on the Democrats' proposal and how much they plan on spending federally if they take back Congress. But I did ask, just how would some of these Republicans running in tough congressional districts and battleground races-- I talked to some party officials about that. One said flatly, our candidates won't be campaigning on this. So still somewhat of a mixed review here on this announcement by the president. Liz. Fin Gómez, thanks so much, live for us from Dallas. But I want to take a look at the numbers for a minute. According to the Census Bureau, there are about 245 million adults living here in the US. If the government were to send out $5,000 to that many people, it will cost over $1.2 trillion. I want to bring in Kelly O'Grady now to crunch the numbers with us. Kelly, where is the government going to get $1.2 trillion from? I mean, we're already in massive debt. Well, and that was my first reaction, too, Liz, that if you have this money, why wouldn't you put it towards this crisis that has roiled the bond markets, the stock markets in recent weeks? But where would we get this money? Vice President Vance last night said that we've been taking in trillions in tariff revenue, that there's also investment coming into the country that other countries have made as part of negotiating some of those deals brought on by the slew of tariffs. So, in theory, there is some of that money, import taxes that were paid by businesses in the US. That being said, some of that is having to be paid back because the Supreme Court ruled a portion of the tariffs unconstitutional. So not all of that money is available. There's also been thrown around the DOGE cuts. Remember, the DOGE dividend was something that was brought up when Elon Musk and his team of folks were there trying to cut spending in the government, that maybe there would be something from there. That being said, we are continuing to see the debt rise, and so it's kind of a make it make sense moment, Liz, that where would that money come from? Because you, in theory, are supposed to be taking the tariff money and spending it in other places. Sure, and I'm curious, what would be the lasting impact of this money on the budget deficit and inflation? Well, if you think about it, if there's more money to be spent, people are going to spend it. And what happens when people spend more money? Well, there's more demand for the goods out there, and that's when you see prices rise. I go back to COVID, those stimulus checks that you mentioned, Liz, in the intro that were sent out. That is one of the key pieces that economists point to that caused the inflation crisis, where we saw inflation reach over 9% in the summer of 2022. And, in fact, I remember Republicans going into the election that fall said, hey, we shouldn't be sending out another round of stimulus checks. It's going to make inflation worse. And so this is just another stimulus check by another name. And most of the economists that I have talked to have said, sure, there are a lot of Americans that are hurting and would absolutely love to see that money because they are living paycheck to paycheck. It would help them bridge the gap. But it would also likely cause inflation to go higher at a time when we are dealing with rising energy prices and a Federal Reserve that is going to meet next week and is going to face a lot of pressure to hike interest rates in order to get this inflation situation under control. So I think there's going to be a lot of pushback when it comes to the inflationary piece of this, if the president were to go through with it.
