Trump pushes $5,000 checks for voters, doles out smaller aid before midterms
Paying out $5,000 checks to every U.S. adult would cost the treasury nearly $1.2 trillion
Published October 05, 2026
With midterms just a month away, President Donald Trump has pledged once again to offer a $5,000 check to every adult American if the GOP retains Congress.
On Friday, October 2, Trump announced in a video post on his social media platform Truth Social that he would make a one-time payment of $90 to 20.8 million Medicare beneficiaries.
A day later, he revived an earlier promise to give every adult U.S. citizen $5,000 but linked it with GOP winning the Congress in November.
“If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 Midterm Elections, I’m going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000," Trump announced on Saturday, October 3, 2026.
For context, President Trump had announced a similar pledge at the GOP National Committee’s first midterm convention in Dallas last month.
Though the president did not specify details as to who sanctioned the payments and where the money came from.
Those claims were asserted soon after $5,000 Obamacare “refund” checks that began rolling out to nearly 950,000 Americans who signed up for unsubsidized plans on the federal exchange.
According to media reports, paying out $5,000 checks to every U.S. adult would cost the exchequer nearly $1.2 trillion and require congressional approval.
