Within 24 hours, President Donald Trump has made two separate promises to return money to Americans through dividend or refund checks.
During the Republican midterm convention on Sept. 9, the president promised that Americans would receive a dividend check if the GOP holds control of Congress after the midterms. The following morning, on Sept. 10, he promised to issue refund checks because taxpayers were overcharged through the Affordable Care Act.
Some critics are already denouncing the proposal as illegal, as a federal statute makes it illegal to offer or make an expenditure to any person to vote or withhold a vote.
Trump's latest messages echo similar pledges from the past, including a push for $2,000 tariff dividend checks for some Americans
last year, which never materialized.
Will Tennessee taxpayers get these dividend payments and refunds promised by Trump? Here's what to know.
Trump promises $5,000 checks at Republican convention
On Sept. 9, Trump announced plans to issue $5,000 dividends to every U.S. adult if Republicans hold on to control of Congress in November.
"Because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," he said. "Please pretend that I'm running and get out and vote on November 3rd or sooner because in actuality I really am running."
It's not fully clear how the dividends would be paid or how much they would cost, though the president credited funds from the tariffs he has levied on imports for making it possible.
Trump follows promise with additional $500 checks
Trump announced in a Sept. 10 video statement posted by the White House that his administration would refund $500 million that he said people allegedly were overcharged through the Affordable Care Act's federal exchange for buying health insurance. The checks will be mailed in October to 1 million people in 30 states that used Healthcare.gov, the federal marketplace where people sign up for Obamacare health insurance.
"Our Administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” Trump said.
How much would Trump's checks cost the United States?
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the $5,000 dividend proposal would cost $1.2 trillion in one year, over 3.5% of GDP. The new tariff revenue, currently under $200 billion annually, is already included in deficit projections and cannot serve as a means to offset these costs.
"This proposal is fiscally dangerous, economically backwards, and fundamentally unserious," Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement.
Previous dividend proposals from the Trump administration
Several pieces of legislation have been introduced to bring the stimulus checks before Congress for approval, but because of the ongoing partial government shutdown, approval is unlikely in the coming weeks.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025 on July 28, 2025, which would provide at least $600 per adult and dependent child, or $2,400 for a family of four.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, introduced the "American Consumer Tariff Rebate Act of 2026" on March 9. The bill aims to allocate $231.35 billion for rebate payments to Americans, roughly the amount consumers are estimated to have paid in tariffs, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Economic Committee.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, introduced the "Tariff Refunds for Working Families Act" to the Senate on March 12. According to CNBC, the rebate would pay $1,200 to joint filers making under $180,000 annually and $600 for each additional child.
Although no formal legislation was enacted, Americans were also promised stimulus checks early in the Trump Administration's second term, funded by savings from budget cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency. The proposal, similar to Trump's current goal, was to give American taxpayers a $5,000 stimulus check from money saved under DOGE.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal and Tennessee. She can be reached at jordan.green@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Are Trump's $5,000 dividend checks real? What Tennesseans should know
