Trumps proposed $5,000 dividend blindsides Congress, angers fiscal conservatives: A dangerous arms race

DALLAS — Conservative fiscal hawks greeted President Trump’s proposed $5,000 payout to Americans if Republicans hold the House and Senate in November with a frosty reception, even as some were reluctant to say so publicly.During his barn-busting speech at the GOP midterm convention, Trump claimed that America’s “tremendous economic success” made the proposal possible for roughly 245 million US citizen adults, which could cost more than $1.2 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated that congressional leaders didn’t get a heads-up, telling The Post that he “heard about it, as you did last night.”“The difference between the president and our team, Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, and Democrats who are going to grow government and have government spend money on the American people versus a philosophy that allows the American people to make those decisions for themselves,” he said.Ironically, Trump’s proposal came after he spent much of his speech bashing Democrats as “communists” and warning they would wreak havoc on the economy.“We are in a dangerous arms race where Republicans and Democrats compete to run up budget deficits by bribing voters with spending hikes and tax cuts that the country can’t afford,” Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution, vented to The Post.“The only way to stop the deficit arms race is for the bond market to essentially cut off the federal government’s borrowing ability, and that may be already starting right now with rising interest rates,” Riedl added.“It never ends well for an economy.”Riedl, who blasted the proposal as “irrational and dangerous,” further contended that “any claim Republicans have on being deficit hawks is collapsing.”The US has some $40 trillion in debt, resulting in interest payments that are higher than military spending.Bond market yields for governments all over the world have been rocked by unrest and...