Overview

• Senate Republicans unanimously dismissed the renewed $600-per-person rebate pitch as unaffordable and unlikely to generate sufficient surplus.
• Sen. Josh Hawley’s American Worker Rebate Act would have offered at least $600 per adult and child funded by Trump’s tariff revenues, with benefits phasing out for higher earners.
• President Trump expressed openness to rebates but also emphasized debt reduction and strained ties with Hawley after dubbing him a “second-tier senator.”
• GOP senators including James Lankford, Ron Johnson and Roger Marshall argued tariff income should be reserved for deficit reduction rather than direct payments.
• U.S. tariff collections hit nearly $30 billion in June and are forecast to surpass $150 billion for the year, but senators doubt that revenue can support rebates.