$5,000 Payout Would Not Cover a Meal at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club

President Donald Trump said a $5,000 payment he has promised to U.S. adults would buy only "a hamburger and maybe a small dessert" at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump has conditioned the payout on Republicans capturing both the House and Senate, and has specified the money must be spent inside the United States. Sending $5,000 to every adult citizen would cost roughly $1.2 trillion and would require Congressional approval.

The promise lands as affordability shapes the Nov. 3 vote. An AP-NORC survey earlier this month found 84% of U.S. adults named cost of living among the most important issues in deciding their vote, while 79% disapproved of Trump's handling of it. Polls show Democrats favored in the national popular vote for the House and competitive in several red-state Senate races that will determine control of the chamber. Some economists have said a one-time direct payment would do little to ease affordability pressures and could add to inflation, with gasoline and grocery prices already straining households.

At a rally in Texas on Tuesday, Trump said: "Go to Florida, go to any one of our great places. You can even come to Mar-a-Lago. The problem is that for $5,000, the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert." He added, "I'm not even sure you could buy that."

Cash promises from Trump have gone unfulfilled before. Ahead of the 2020 election, he pledged 33 million Medicare beneficiaries $200 prescription-drug cards "in coming weeks"; the cards never shipped.

The White House renovation has also drawn campaign-trail comment. At an Ohio rally last week, former President Barack Obama said Trump had "got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," adding, "there's gold everywhere." Trump defended the redesign Monday: "Guys like Obama don't see it. You don't see dirt. He doesn't see filth. He doesn't see broken ornaments on a building .. And for you to say it's a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president."

The midterm vote is set for Nov. 3.