Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blasted President Donald Trump's promise to hand out $5,000 checks if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate.
Trump offered no details on how the checks would be distributed, but the White House has since suggested that the administration would use tariff revenue to fund the proposal. However, many critics argued that sending $5,000 checks to every American would only create more economic issues.
It would cost the country roughly $1.3 trillion if Trump were to distribute $5,000 checks to each U.S. adult.
DeSantis pushed back against Trump's dividend checks during a Thursday press conference. DeSantis has had a rocky relationship with Trump since he ran against him in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, during which Trump nicknamed him "Ron DeSanctimonious."
"If you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people's tax and return it to the people," DeSantis said about the checks, according to Politico. "What I don't think you want to do is borrow another $1.5 trillion, and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation. That will lead to more debt and more inflation."
DeSantis, a fiscal hawk who is critical of the country's growing debt problem, said the solution is reducing the size of the government.
"Ultimately, I don't think our federal government has proven the ability to do these interventions in a way that ultimately benefit the people that they're purporting to help," DeSantis said, according to Politico. "I think it oftentimes causes unintended consequences."
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