Speaker Mike Johnson Reacts to Trump’s $5,000 Cash Proposal for Americans

During his address to the Republican convention in Dallas this week, President Trump promised to give every adult in the United States a $5,000 dollar check. He promised the cash only if the Republicans maintain control of Congress.

For families battling to meet the bills every month, a $5,000 check would be a huge help. But do you believe it will really happen?

What Does House Speaker Mike Johnson Say About the President's Plan?

KEEL News asked about the cash and Johnson told us:

We're the only party making life more affordable for American citizens. This is just another idea the President has to continue on that theme. Congress will obviously debate and discuss this in the weeks and months ahead. We also have to stay mindful of the costs and our country's fiscal situation and that's all part of the discussion. I talked to the President about it after his speech when he revealed the big idea and we'll see if it has legs in Congress.

We reminded Speaker Johnson that "President Trump also promised us a DOGE check and a tariff check and we are still waiting on those. Do you really believe we will get a check?"

Johnson answered our question this way. "I'll tell you what the President has done is he's put more money in every Americans pocket. We gave the largest tax cut in U.S. history and cut tax on tips and overtime, social security and all the rest."

DOES THE PRESIDENT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ISSUE THE CHECKS?

Johnson says "in Louisiana the average tax cut is $2,915 dollars. That's $243 dollars a month for the average Louisianian. And by the way, take home pay has increased $6600 hundred dollars to $9200 dollars. He is putting more money in Americans checks and you're having to send less to Uncle Sam in Washington."

Is President Trump Trying to Buy Votes with His $5,000 Proposal

When we asked Johnson about the allegations that the President is trying to buy votes. Johnson says

Well it's kind of silly for Democrats to say that when they're the ones that orchestrated the Covid subsidies and payouts. This is not an unprecedented thing. And he's not buying votes because his proposal says every American would get a check regardless of how you vote. That's how he presented it. That's what he means by that. This is not a vote buying proposed bill. He's trying to say America is back and in his mind because the President is a business guy. If your corporation has big earnings, you get a dividend check.

KEEL News also asked Speaker Johnson "why not use the money from the President's proposal to pay down the debt, we owe $40 trillion dollars. We have to take care of that at some point."

Johnson replied "we do have to do that. I say it and I do it. Do you know that we cut $1.6 trillion dollars in wasteful spending since last year. Here's the real problem: 76% of federal spending is on auto pilot. It's mandatory spending. We need bipartisan solutions to look at that problem and address it with program integrity changes and revisions. We have ideas to do that going forward. We didn't get in this situation overnight."