A legislative proposal currently under review in the U.S. Senate outlines a plan to issue stimulus checks of up to 2,400 dollars per family. The payments would be funded by tariff revenue rather than new federal spending. Introduced by Senator Josh Hawley and supported by former President Donald Trump, the initiative has entered early stages of the legislative process.
According to reporting from The U.S. Sun, the rebate concept draws on revenue generated under existing trade policies. Lawmakers have yet to determine whether the measure will gain sufficient bipartisan support or how quickly it could advance through both chambers of Congress.
Hawley’s Plan Seeks to Return Tariff Revenue to Working Families
The legislation, titled the American Rebate Worker Act, proposes direct payments of 600 dollars to individual Americans, structured similarly to the COVID-era stimulus checks. A qualifying household of four could receive up to 2,400 dollars under the current draft of the bill.
The eligibility thresholds follow the familiar structure used in the 2020 and 2021 stimulus checks: full rebates for single filers with adjusted gross income (AGI) up to 75,000 dollars and joint filers up to 150,000 dollars. Payments would be reduced by 5 percent for incomes above those thresholds.
Unlike the pandemic-era payments, however, these checks would be funded entirely from tariff revenues, not new federal spending.
“Americans deserve a tax rebate after four years of Biden policies that have devastated families’ savings and livelihoods,” Senator Hawley said in a press release.
Trump Administration Touts Tariff Surplus
Former President Donald Trump, whose administration implemented the bulk of current U.S. tariffs, supports the idea of using the resulting revenue to provide direct payments.
“We have so much money coming in, we’re thinking about a little rebate,” Trump told reporters in July.
That surplus is indeed substantial. The White House estimates that current tariff policies have already generated more than 100 billion dollars in revenue. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has projected that annual revenue could reach 300 billion dollars.
Trump has suggested that his top priority remains reducing the federal debt.
“The big thing we want to do is pay down debt,” he said last month.
“But we’re thinking about rebates.”
Political Response Divided Even Within Party Lines
Although the proposal is supported by Trump and Hawley, it has already encountered resistance — including from within the Republican Party. Speaking to Semafor, Hawley remarked,
“The Act probably would be the most popular thing that this Congress would do. Which means, of course, Republicans would be against it.”
The legislation has been submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, but it will need support from both the Senate and House of Representatives to move forward.
Path to Implementation Remains Uncertain
The American Rebate Worker Act arrives in a tense fiscal environment. Inflation concerns, election-year politics, and disagreement over how to use tariff revenue all pose potential roadblocks.
Nevertheless, the appeal of another round of stimulus checks, especially funded from existing trade policies rather than borrowing, may present a bipartisan opportunity — or a point of division.
