Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Trump's $2,000 tariff checks might need a congressional OK

Lakshmi Varanasi

Mon, November 17, 2025 at 1:21 AM EST 2 min read

• Treasury Secretary Bessent said Trump's proposed $2,000 tariff checks might need approval from Congress.

• Trump initially proposed the payments in August to redistribute tariff dividends.

• Bessent said on Sunday that there would be income limits on the checks.

It may be a while before President Donald Trump's proposed $2,000 tariff checks hit your bank account — if they do — but the wheels are apparently turning in Washington.

"We will see. We need legislation for that," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday in an interview on Fox News when asked if Trump was going to send the tariff revenue-sharing checks soon.

He said the checks would go to "working families" and that an income limit would be set. He didn't describe them as a sure thing, but said: "Those could go out."

"President Trump is all about solutions. Everything is on the table," Bessent said.

Business Insider reported earlier this month on exactly how the tariff checks could be funded and what they could mean for the economy.

More coverage on Trump's proposed $2,000 tariff checks

• What you need to know about Donald Trump's proposed $2,000 tariff revenue dividend checks

• Trump says a tariff dividend of 'at least' $2,000 will be paid to most Americans

• Trump floats using tariff revenue to send $2,000 checks to Americans. Here's how that could hurt people in the long run.

Earlier this month, Trump had proposed on Truth Social that "a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone."

Trump first mentioned the checks in August when he said, "We're taking in so much money that we may very well make a dividend to the people of America."

The Trump Administration initially enacted sweeping protective tariffs in February in the name of rebalancing trade — an idea that Bessent reiterated on ABC's "This Week" earlier this month. At the time, he also said that no specific plan had been made to spend tariff revenue, and that the $2,000 payment could come in the form of not taxing tips and Social Security payments.

Some economists and others have warned that sending checks to people could heat up inflation at a time when people are still worried about rising prices. Others have said the payouts could worsen the national debt.

Read the original article on Business Insider