Democrats do not believe President Trump will follow through on his promise to send every U.S. adult citizen a $5,000 dividend check if Republicans hold onto their congressional majorities in November’s midterm election.
They cast the proposal as just another empty promise from the president, whom they argue has repeatedly lied to the American people.
“Donald Trump is a known liar. This is the biggest liar to ever serve in government, period,” said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “The dividend is not happening.”
Mr. Garcia said the president has made similar proposals on which he has not delivered, such as giving Americans a tariff refund of at least $2,000 per person and a dividend from savings achieved through the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“So there’s no one in the country that thinks somehow this new dividend is actually going to happen,” he said. “What the American people want is the president to actually focus on lowering their costs of gas, groceries, and expand healthcare. The president has done the opposite.”
Mr. Garcia is one of four House Democrats who traveled to Dallas this week to counter Republicans’ messaging at the first-ever midterm convention.
Mr. Trump floated the $5,000 dividend during his opening speech on Wednesday night.
“Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them — because of our tremendous economic success — I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” he said.
The president said the money must be spent in the U.S. — a caveat that would be hard to enforce, depending on how the dividend is distributed.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, California Democrat, said her party will remind voters of all the times Mr. Trump has come up short on his campaign promises, such as his vows not to start any new wars and to lower the cost of living in the U.S.
“The guy is all about empty promises,” she said.
Ms. Kamlager-Dove said the hope of $5,000 dividend checks would not be enough to win over voters who have struggled to make ends meet under Mr. Trump’s policies.
“When they’re going to the grocery store and they only have 20 bucks and they cannot get all the food they need to put food on the table for their kids, they’re going to be rethinking the folks who have been selling them a bill of goods and refusing to deliver,” she said.
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