Trump’s $2,000 Rebate Checks Face Hurdles in Congress

President Trump is considering an idea of using tariff income to give Americans $2000 rebate checks.

But this is a decision that President Trump cannot make on his own. Congress controls the purse strings and will have to make the final decision about a possible stimulus check.

House Speaker Mike Johnson tells KEEL News there may be other options for using that tariff income. Johnson says he's not convinced that spending the tariff income to give Americans rebate is the best use of the money.

READ MORE: See Johnson's Plan for a House Vote on Reopening Government

"The question that he and I and the whole Congress with have to decide is do we want to pay down some of the national debt or do you wanna distribute that in payments to families across the country."

Should Federal Tariff Money Be Used to Pay Off Debt?

Speaker Johnson says "my first inclination is to tackle this national debt because its $38 trillion dollars and the higher it goes, the more it costs everyone in the long run. So we've got to be good stewards of this."

But this entire debate will depend on what happens in the court.

The Supreme Court may ultimately have the final say. While it’s issued preliminary rulings that’s allowed Trump to continue imposing tariffs, it has not issued a final ruling yet. If it ultimately rules that Trump improperly used emergency powers to impose tariffs, the government may have to give that money back to the countries that paid those tariffs in the first place.