'It would be crazy': Republican senators souring on Trump's plan to salvage key policy

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump’s hold over congressional Republicans is showing visible signs of cracking. His effort to block the release of the Epstein files collapsed after a near-unanimous House vote and a unanimous consent vote in the Senate sent the bill to his desk. He is now clashing with one of his former loyalists, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). And Trump’s demand that Republicans kill the filibuster landed flat.

Now, Trump’s plan to send $2,000 tariff “dividend” checks to low- and middle-income Americans appears headed for the same fate as his promised $5,000 DOGE dividend payouts.

GOP lawmakers appear unconvinced on the president’s desire to send out the $2,000 checks — despite Trump’s new “affordability” push after his party’s damaging off-year November elections.

“The GOP pushback on the proposed checks, which the White House says would be funded by tariff revenue, is the latest sign of division between the president and the GOP-controlled Congress and a weakening of Trump’s firm control of Washington,” Bloomberg News reported.

Trump so far is undeterred.

“We’re going to be issuing dividends later on, somewhere prior to, you know, probably the middle of next year, a little bit later than that,” Trump said on Monday, according to Axios. “Thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income.”

That would put the checks in the hands of voters slightly before the midterms.

Trump repeated his plan on Wednesday.

“We’re going to be doing a dividend — low- and middle-income people — of at least $2,000,” Trump told attendees at the U.S.—Saudi Investment Forum.

Several congressional Republicans have publicly expressed opposition in a further sign of Trump’s grip slipping.

“I think it would be crazy to send money to people while we have a deficit,” U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Tuesday.

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune also pointed to the deficit as a priority.

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) reportedly is also opposed.

“House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington said he told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a Wednesday meeting that he’d prefer the tariff revenue go toward reducing the deficit, not to $2,000 checks,” Bloomberg added.

Experts also point to a lack of GOP support.

“We view this as very unlikely to get done,” Tobin Marcus of Wolfe Research said in a note, Bloomberg reported. “We don’t think a second reconciliation bill focused on $2k stimulus checks has the near-uniform support it needs.”

The Wall Street Journal earlier this week also pointed to an Epstein-related failure — U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s refusal to withdraw her name from the Epstein discharge petition — as yet another sign of Trump’s grip on the GOP slipping.

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