U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to pay every adult American $5,000 if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Trump made the pledge Wednesday during the opening night of the Republican Party’s unusual midterm convention in Dallas, as he seeks to keep his party in control of the House of Representatives and Senate.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said.
Trump offered few details on how the payments would be funded or implemented, but compared the proposal to dividends paid by companies to shareholders.
He also compared it with the $1,776 payments his administration issued to members of the U.S. military last year.
The proposal could cost more than $1 trillion, based on the number of adults in the United States, and would require congressional approval. Reuters reported that the estimated cost could be around $1.35 trillion.
Trump later said the only condition was that the money must be spent in the United States.
The president’s pledge comes as Republicans face a difficult fight to retain their congressional majorities, with less than two months before the Nov. 3 elections.
Trump is also seeking to overcome low approval ratings, economic concerns and voter dissatisfaction over the war in Iran.
He used his speech to attack Democrats, promote his administration’s record and urge Republican voters to treat the midterm election as a referendum on his presidency.
“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” Trump said. “I’m on the ballot. Just one more time.”
Trump also pledged to campaign aggressively for Republican candidates, saying he plans to hold rallies and appear with dozens of House and Senate candidates in competitive races.
“We’re going to have rallies just like this. We’re going to have big arenas, loaded up with people,” he said.
The president also urged Texas voters to support Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, who is facing Democratic candidate James Talarico in the November election.
Trump’s two-day convention is the first national Republican convention specifically organised around a midterm election. The event is designed to energise Republican voters and put Trump at the centre of the party’s campaign ahead of the November elections.
The proposal for the $5,000 payments was one of the most dramatic moments of Trump’s opening-night speech, although questions remain about how the plan would be financed and carried out.
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