Rep. Tom Cole is signaling that President Donald Trump's proposed $2,000 "tariff dividend" checks may face a rocky path in Congress, warning that the plan is far from guaranteed.
Cole, who is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the idea, while generating interest among some lawmakers, is expensive, politically fraught, and likely to encounter resistance — particularly from Democrats.
The Oklahoma Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that the House would "absolutely" need to vote on Trump's proposal, underscoring that the plan requires legislative action.
As chairman of the committee, Cole will play a pivotal role in whether the dividend checks ever reach Americans: His committee controls the government's purse strings, meaning no major spending initiative — including those checks — can move forward without his sign-off and cooperation.
He cautioned that despite early enthusiasm, the measure's size and timing make it difficult to predict whether it can advance.
"It will," Cole said when asked if the House must act. "It would need to vote on it. I do think this would take legislative action."
Cole stressed the scale of the spending involved, calling the idea anything but automatic.
"I don't think it's a slam dunk," he said.
"That's a pretty expensive item — $2,000 checks, depending on the income cutoff, are billions and billions of dollars."
He added that while "there's some interest in it," getting it through Congress — especially in an election year — will require navigating narrow margins in the House and likely opposition from Democrats.
"Whether you can get it through both houses, particularly during an election year, it's going to be pretty controversial," he said.
"I don't expect a lot of Democratic support for this idea," Cole said. "And again, the margins are narrow in the House."
He said lawmakers won't be able to fully assess the plan until the administration releases specifics.
"It's hard to prognosticate until you actually see what the product looks like, what the income levels are that would be affected, and how much the total bill is going to be," he said.
Trump previewed the dividend plan on Monday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that the government had collected "hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money."
He said the administration intends to distribute "thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income" by mid-2026 while also using tariff revenue to help pay down the national debt.
But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend that Congress would need to pass legislation authorizing the checks, raising immediate questions about whether the closely divided House and Senate have the appetite to approve such a plan.
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