WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $5,000 to every American adult if his Republican Party maintains control of the House and Senate in the November election needs congressional approval, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday, while pledging to try to make it happen.<\/p>\n
Trump made the unusual pitch at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas last week, promising a \u201cTrump Dividend\u201d if voters keep the GOP in power on Capitol Hill. The president later told CBS News Texas that he did not think Congress would need to authorize the payments, though he did not specify how he could spend more than $1 trillion without lawmakers’ authorization.<\/p>\n
But Johnson, R-La., said congressional approval is needed. \u201cI would assume, yes, he’d need Congress to act, and that’s a creative idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A few hours later, Trump said he would deliver on his promise. \u201cThe 5,000\u2019s going to happen, 100%,\u201d he told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Ireland, where he attended a pro golf tournament at his resort.<\/p>\n
Johnson, meanwhile, said he would work to get Trump’s proposal through Congress despite a small Republican margin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the big ideas president. We\u2019re going to try to implement everything we can,\u201d he said. “I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that like they have to do everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dubious election-year gambit could cost more than $1 trillion, putting further strains on the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and exacerbating concerns of inflation. The economy is confronted by persistent inflation and increasing interest rates, a tough combination for governing Republicans as they seek to hold on to control of Congress.<\/p>\n
The president argues that payments would be possible because of the strong economy, but consumer sentiment is weak as gasoline prices rise because of the war with Iran and wages struggle to keep pace with inflation.<\/p>\n
Trump told reporters earlier Sunday that the payments would be \u201ceasy enough\u201d because the United States has a strong economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can easily handle that because we’re taking in so much money,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’ve never done better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That compares with 37% in June and 42% who approved of his work when he took office. Majorities also disapprove of his handling of the economy and immigration, issues that were central to Trump\u2019s election in 2024.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Trump said the gas price will \u201cdrop like a rock\u201d but indicated no deal any time soon with Iran to end the conflicts and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Johnson appeared on CNN’s \u201cState of the Union\u201d and NBC’s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $5,000 to every American adult if his Republican Party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[102,145,31231,8165,6681,23681,59373,59371,59372,61260,61261,61262,82,84,83,150918],"class_list":["post-434993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-dallas","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-ireland","tag-mike-johnson","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31998-ap-online-national-news","tag-product-32510-ap-online-general-election-news","tag-product-32520-ap-online-other-u-s-government-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-trump-congress-5000-dividend-election-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}