President Donald Trump's promised $5,000 "dividend" for all U.S. adults would not use taxpayer dollars, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday—a claim tested by the multiple, conflicting funding mechanisms officials have outlined.
Lutnick told NBC News the administration could "earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers." He pointed to two specific sources.
The first is the Trump Platinum Card, a Commerce Department program allowing wealthy individuals to pay $5 million to extend their U.S. visas for an additional 270 days. Lutnick reported a waitlist exceeding 100,000 people, representing a potential revenue stream of $500 billion.
The second is an administration investment in Intel made last year using $8.9 billion from appropriated CHIPS Act funds. The government holds approximately 500 million shares purchased at around $20 per share. As of Thursday, Intel stock had risen to $100.32, generating an unrealized paper gain of $50 billion. The shares have not been sold.
Other Trump officials offered different explanations. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett stated Friday on Bloomberg Television that the White House was considering a "reconciliation process" in Congress. Initial estimates for such a plan put the cost at around $1.3 trillion, requiring legislative action.
Vice President JD Vance suggested Wednesday that U.S. tariff revenues could cover the payments. But the nonpartisan Tax Foundation indicated that even before a Supreme Court order to refund hundreds of billions in tariff revenues, those funds would not have been sufficient.
The distinction between these proposals is accounting: any dollar allocated to these checks is a dollar unavailable for paying down the national debt, funding existing programs, or reducing taxes elsewhere.
The dividend proposal arrives as the U.S. national debt surpassed $40 trillion for the first time. The government's annual budget deficit is nearing $1.8 trillion, the highest level since March 2021.
Lutnick said the administration plans to address the debt by pursuing "waste, fraud and abuse." Economists widely believe this strategy will not significantly reduce the debt burden.
