Lutnick says $5K dividend would not use taxpayer dollars

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that the $5,000 dividends President Trump promised U.S. adults earlier this week would not come from taxpayer money.

In an interview with NBC News at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Lutnick said, “It’s not tax money.”

“Together we’re going to deliver that plan and we’re going to pay that money to the Americans, and not from taxpayer money,” Lutnick continued.

Trump announced the dividends at the GOP’s midterm convention but said the money would only be given if Republicans maintained control of both chambers in Congress after November’s elections. The proposal would disburse a total of $1.2 trillion in dividends to roughly 270 million U.S. adults.

Lutnick said the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.”

When asked where the money would come from, Lutnick cited the Trump Platinum Card — which is not launched yet — that would require immigration applicants to join a waitlist and allows for future applicants to live in the U.S. for 270 days per year without being subject to tax on non-U.S. income.

Applicants would have to pay a $15,000 processing fee, undergo Department of Homeland Security vetting and pay an additional $5 million contribution to the U.S. government to be guaranteed citizenship.

“We have a waitlist of more than 100,000 people who want to come,” Lutnick said. “That’s $500 billion dollars.”

He also mentioned the investment the federal government made into Intel last year as another source of possible funds that Trump said generated more than $30 billion over the last several months.

“Everybody knows we got just about 500 million shares, and the stock was $20, and now it’s $100, so we’re up $50 billion,” Lutnick stated.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett also suggested Friday the funds could come from a reconciliation package .

The proposal has divided figures within the GOP: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was critical of the proposal, noting the rising national debt as a major drawback of the idea.

“What I don’t think you want to do is borrow another trillion-and-a-half dollars and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation,” DeSantis said.