Candidates regularly promise benefits in return for votes.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump promised tax breaks for seniors, tipped workers and other targeted groups — and delivered them in his "One Big Beautiful Bill" the following year.
Democratic candidates, including President-elect Joe Biden, promised a third round of COVID-19 relief checks in a Georgia special election in 2021 and delivered when they won control of Congress.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a comparable promise is legal. In a unanimous 1982 decision, the high court overturned a lower-court ruling that had invalidated the election of a Kentucky official who had promised to save taxpayer money by lowering county commissioners' salaries.
Elon Musk, the world's richest person, offered voters a chance to win $1 million in 2024 if they signed a petition to support the Constitution. That drew legal challenges, still unresolved, from voters who said they had no real chance to win because Musk was seeking people to support his political action committee, which backed Republican candidates.
It would be difficult to challenge Trump's dividend in court, as voters might have trouble showing that they had been directly harmed.
Yes. Congress has authority over spending under the U.S. Constitution.
Trump's Republicans control both the House and the Senate by narrow margins, and several members of his party have already reacted favorably to the idea.
Democrats would be sure to oppose any legislation and could block passage in the Senate, where a supermajority of 60 votes is needed to advance most legislation.
Republicans could invoke a complex budget process to bypass Democrats and approve the bill along party lines. They have successfully used this approach twice since Trump's January 2025 return to office, but have struggled to advance a third such package.
They have little time to act before the November 3 elections, as the House is scheduled to be in session for only one week before then. Congress could also try to act in a "lame-duck" session after the election.
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