Bessent says Treasury is ‘examining’ ability to cut $5,000 checks without Congress

During the GOP midterm convention last week, Trump promised the $5,000 payments to all adults if Republicans emerge victorious in November.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) pressed Bessent on whether he believes Trump can make $5,000 payments without Congress’s consent.

“We are currently examining that at Treasury,” Bessent said, “and when the Republicans win in November, if we need to, I look forward to working with [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson on it.”

“If it becomes clear that we need congressional authority, I will meet with Speaker Johnson,” Bessent added a bit later.

Bessent also emphasized that the president’s intent to make the $5,000 payouts is “very real.”

He also pushed back on claims that such payments would spike deficits at a time when the national debt has punched past $40 trillion and confirmed his support for sending out the checks. He also suggested it might be possible to do so without adding to the deficit but did not go into specifics.

“Well, first of all, I think putting more money in the American people’s pocket should be an objective for everyone, and I believe there are ways to do it that would not affect the deficit,” Bessent said.

Trump said the checks would be a “dividend” for the “tremendous economic success” of the United States.

He stipulated, though, that the money would have to be spent in the U.S.

The dividend check would cost the Treasury somewhere in the ballpark of $1.3 trillion if every adult in the U.S. received the $5,000 payment as Trump indicated.

Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) pushed Bessent on the point about the spending adding to the debt and deficits.

“I believe that there are ways to do it without increasing the debt or deficit,” Bessent said.

When asked specifically how that could be done, the treasury secretary responded that it is “in process right now” and that he is not ready to discuss it.

“But at Treasury, we’ve been working on it for quite a while,” Bessent added.

At the hearing, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) pressed Bessent about market interventions during Trump’s second term, including the government taking equity stakes in private companies.

“The government now owns 39 companies,” Himes said. “The government has imposed tariffs. I don’t like tariffs. Whether you think they’re a good idea or a bad idea, they are an intervention in the free market.”

Himes also mentioned the Treasury’s intervention in the bond markets.

“Constant interventions in the operations of the free market,” Himes added.

CHILDCARE CLASH REFLECTS FIGHT FOR SOUL OF GOP, SUPPLY-SIDER PAT TOOMEY SAYS

Last month, the Treasury Department tried to intervene with buybacks in an effort to artificially lower yields on long-term securities, although the market shrugged off that effort. The Treasury then announced last week that it would triple buybacks to $6 billion in longer-term debt.

And bond yields still went higher. On Monday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit 5% for the first time in 19 years, adding to pressure on the federal government’s finances.