The phrase “Congress controls the purse strings” means exactly what you think it does.
The president cannot issue checks to the country, or to anyone, without authorization from Congress.
Trump said during his White House deranged address:
Next spring is expected to be the biggest tax refund season ever because of the tariffs, as well as the big, beautiful bill that just passed. Tonight, I am also proud to announce that more than 1,450,000 people are thinking about that 1 million. 450,000 military personnel will receive a special dividend before Christmas that we call Warrior Dividend.
So Dividend Warrior. In honor of our nation’s founding in 1776, we are sending $1,776 to every soldier. Think about it, and the checks are already underway. Person. I figured this out until about 30 minutes ago, we were making a lot more money than anyone thought from tariffs. And the bill helped us.
Trump suggested the money came from tariffs, but that wasn’t true. Trump may think the money came from tariffs, but Congress never authorized additional payments to members of the military, so the funds certainly didn’t come from tariffs.
The money actually came from funds already allocated by Congress for the troops.
Trump’s Warrior Dividend was a scam to pick the troops’ pockets and then give them their own money.
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