Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said it's unclear whether congressional approval would be needed to fulfill President Donald Trump's pledge to provide $5,000 dividend payments to Americans if Republicans sweep the midterm elections.
"It's an idea the president had about how to take the future prosperity of the country and give it back to the American workers," Burgum said in an interview on Bloomberg TV Thursday. "This is a big bold, fresh idea — and it has a lot of potential."
Burgum pointed to what he described as "trillions of dollars" in foreign investment, along with lower taxes and fewer regulations, as potential sources of economic growth that Trump wants to share with workers.
Trump used a speech Wednesday night at the Republican National Committee's two-day convention in Dallas to promise Americans a $5,000 dividend if the GOP retains control of the House and Senate during November's elections, casting the proposal as a way to share the country's economic gains with workers.
Asked about Trump's assertion in a CBS interview that he would not need Congress to carry out the plan, Burgum said the question had yet to be resolved.
"That remains to be seen," he said. "I'm sure President Trump, who has just launched his big idea yesterday, perhaps has some ideas related to the revenue that's coming in or the savings that's being generated from other sources."
