Election Day 2026 and Money to Voters
President Donald Trump and various administration officials have announced a series of potential promises and new spending initiatives in the weeks before voters head to the polls to decide which political party should hold the majority of seats in Congress beginning in 2027.
Inflation, fuel prices, fertilizer costs, food prices, and borrowing rates have increased since President Trump returned to office and Republicans assumed power in Congress in January 2025. Trump’s global trade war has also increased costs on some imported products.
Democrats have focused on voters’ angst that they are worse off financially than they were two years ago.
Republicans hope that voters focus on tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and optimism that President Trump can eventually negotiate better trade deals to expand exports.
How Close Is GOP Control of Congress?
Republicans currently hold more seats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but the margins are narrow:
U.S. House – 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, 1 Independent, 2 vacancies (due to recent resignations)
U.S. Senate – 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, 2 Independents
Promises to voters:
$5,000 to each adult American citizen – President Trump on September 10 offered $5,000 payments to Americans. But he said Americans would only get the payment from taxpayers if voters kept Republicans in the majority in both the U.S. House and Senate. He called them “Trump dividends.”
This unprecedented promise to voters would need approval from Congress and has an estimated cost to taxpayers of nearly $1.2 trillion.
The Trump administration ran a nearly $2 trillion deficit during the most recent fiscal year, and the country’s collective debt is nearly $40.6 trillion.
$8 billion in assistance to farmers – President Trump announced the aid, the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, on October 19 during a campaign rally in Kansas, where U.S. Senator Roger Marshall is trying to avoid becoming the first Republican to lose a Senate seat in that state to a Democrat in more than 90 years.
The payment to farmers would help offset some of the losses they have suffered in higher fuel costs, which have soared since President Trump launched the war with Iran in February.
The USDA said payments would get administered by the Farm Service Agency and funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act. There are questions about whether the CCC account would have funds available in early 2027 to make the promised payments.
On-Road use of red-dyed diesel – President Trump announced an executive order on October 5 called the Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel. The order permits the use of red-dyed diesel (normally used in off-road machinery like farm tractors, construction equipment, and home heating oil) in highway vehicles. It defers the federal excise taxes of roughly 24.4 cents per gallon on dyed diesel for the last quarter of 2026.
Users would still owe the deferred taxes in 2027 unless the Trump administration – likely via congressional action – would essentially waive them.
$90 payments to 20 million+ Medicare recipients – President Trump announced rebates on October 2, a month before the mid-term election. Some enrollees in the traditional Medicare Part B will receive the rebate in October, which could offset proposed cost increases for 2027.
The payments come from a $2.2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund established 18 years ago. The Trump administration said that the funds had never previously been utilized.
$500 Affordable Care Act refunds – President Trump announced on September 10 that the administration was sending $500 checks for what he claimed were overpayments during the Biden administration.
The administration said payments headed to eligible Americans in late September and October.
$25 million in rewards for reports of government fraud – President Trump on October 20 announced a whistleblower program that encouraged people to report fraud involving government programs. The initiative could pay up to $30,000 for a qualified report.
RELATED: American Farmland Owner examined what the red-dyed diesel executive order could mean for farmers and ranchers.
