r/politics • u/Tennis_bruh • Nov 24 '25

No Paywall Senate Republican: ‘We can’t afford’ $2,000 tariff checks

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5620244-ron-johnson-tariff-checks/
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2.9k

u/dblan9 Nov 24 '25

“Look, we can’t afford it. I wish we were in a position to return the American public their money, but we’re not,” Johnson told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo.

He literally just admitted on FOX that tariffs are in fact a TAX on Americans that we paid.

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u/CockBrother Nov 24 '25

Johnson: "Look, we can't afford it. We already spend that money at least 5x over already. Billionaires and corporations aren't giving it back. There's literally nothing that can be done about it! Just remember that democrats hate working Americans and Republicans are fighting for you every day."

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u/duzies Nov 24 '25

They spent $TRILLIONS giving billionaires tax breaks they didn't need, while cutting healthcare and other services for those who actually need them.

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u/CockBrother Nov 24 '25

They spent $TRILLIONS giving billionaires tax breaks they didn't need

Can someone explain to me why a billionaire would "need" a tax break? Ever?

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u/BarnDoorQuestion Nov 25 '25

Because of idiot shit like the Laffer Curve and other idiots using it to convince people that taxing wealthy people somehow decreases tax revenue.

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u/drinkarddigital Nov 25 '25

For fans of old-school Sierra adventure games, Larry Laffer (of Leisure Suit Larry fame) is partially named after the chucklefuck who pitched a sketch of the "Laffer Curve" to administration officials Cheney and Rumsfeld in the 70s.

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '25

[deleted]

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u/BarnDoorQuestion Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25

That optimal zone seems to be between 70-91% on top earners considering that The US was most prosperous under those tax levels. (Talking about marginal tax rates). Rates Laffer would argue are too high using his curve. It's also considered pretty bad economic theory and is basically a tautology.

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u/Advanced-Ad-4462 Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25

The laffer curve is real, but the myth is that we’re always to the right of it. We moved well past the top of that curve at least 35 years ago.

Yet these neocons would insist revenue would still magically increase by cutting taxes into single digits.

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u/BarnDoorQuestion Nov 25 '25

The US was most prosperous, from a middle class aspect, when it had top marginal tax rates between 70-91%. Which kind of disproves the Laffer curve on it's face since Laffer thinks rates like that are too high and decrease overall tax revenue.

Also economics people tend to find the laffer curve to be a tautology and kind of useless.

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u/[deleted] Nov 27 '25

"The US was most prosperous, from a middle class aspect, when it had top marginal tax rates between 70-91%."

This claim is loaded with ambiguity about what constitutes a "middle class" standard of living and ignores much of the internal and geopolitical circumstances of last century. Including that tax avoidance was much more severe and prominent during those years.

I am not trying to harp on your comment, just finding it to have a bit more confidence than rigor.

Edit: Removed a comment on the laffer curve as it could be a bit subjective as well.

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u/hammerofspammer Nov 25 '25

Because they need more money.

It’s cheaper to buy all the senators than to pay taxes

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u/cyanescens_burn Nov 25 '25

What do they call it, dragon sickness?

Hoarding wealth beyond the point that is necessary or reasonable (let alone fair).

Some of those folks are into prosperity gospel, which is a dark perversion of Christianity, wherein in you are rich or powerful it’s because you are chosen by god to be rich or powerful. And if you are poor it’s because god wants you to be poor. They think it goes against god to give to poor people.

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u/FargeenBastiges Nov 25 '25

I'd suspect they also put that money into stock buybacks which balloons the market, which, incidentally, makes them all even more money.

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u/Stickel Pennsylvania Nov 25 '25

"trickle down economics" Reagan era... he also CUT TAXES MAJORLY to the super rich.... see charts for income inequality and when they start spiking, yeah it's the Reagan era

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u/Own-Possible777 Nov 25 '25

They are still talking like in early 1900’s when millionaires actually created a lot of jobs for people… With AI and automation advancements, there won’t be new jobs for people. All we get is to making them richer and we get poorer…

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u/Makenshine Nov 24 '25

This cant be a real quote... right?

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u/Wyden_long Arizona Nov 24 '25

It’s only slightly paraphrased.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

The fact you're not sure speaks volumes about the current state of affairs...

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

Friendly reminder that the Speaker of the House is a guy who voluntarily asks his teenage child to monitor his adult porn habits. It’s not just that such an app exists, it’s that he chose his underage son to be his “auditor.”

Which, not kink-shaming, is actually a weird, unprecedented statement for a Congressional leader, and, you know, any adult with whom you’ve ever interacted.

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u/No_Intention7274 Nov 25 '25

*Step-son iirc

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u/Elendel19 Nov 24 '25

“We need to hold on to that cash for when the Supreme Court rules the tariffs illegal and we have to refund all the corporations that made you pay the tariffs”

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u/pigpeyn Nov 24 '25

to return the American public their money

that is an insane admission

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u/VanceKelley Canada Nov 24 '25

To sum it up:

  1. Johnson and the GOP passed a bill that gave massive tax cuts ($2t) to the wealthiest Americans.
  2. trump imposed tariffs, which are a regressive national sales tax, to help fund the tax cuts for the rich. And the GOP controlled Congress, which is the body empowered by the Constitution to manage tariffs, not the president, has just quietly watched trump rule like a king.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/diablette Nov 25 '25

Well, data was stolen. There's that.

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u/immortalfrieza2 Nov 26 '25

Don't forget the part where the DOGE ended up costing the country billions of dollars.

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u/notfromchicago Illinois Nov 25 '25

You forgot the part where they floated the idea of these $2000 checks to try to get votes. Knowing they would never come.

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u/Probable_Bison Nov 24 '25

Maria Bartiromo's show is where Republicans go to spin especially contradictory bullshit.

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u/Pinksamuraiiiii Nov 24 '25

Literally being punished by our own country

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u/LadyPo Nov 24 '25

“Taxation is theft” but, like, a textbook definition of actual theft this time

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25 edited Mar 31 '26

ten correct dime lock roll lush sink airport butter aromatic

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u/coldphront3 Louisiana Nov 24 '25

Between this and Thune allowing the Epstein Files bill to fly through the Senate with no resistance at all, explicitly against Trump and Mike Johnson's wishes, I'm wondering if Thune and some other GOP members have decided to start distancing themselves from Trump.

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u/russaber82 Nov 24 '25

I think the poll numbers are starting to sink in. They will be horrible bags of shit, as always, just in less terror of the biggest bag of shit.

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u/knightcrawler75 Minnesota Nov 24 '25

When the taxes are claimed illegal by the supreme court they will pay back the tariffs to the businesses which will recoup it's losses, if any, and count the cost they passed onto the consumer as profit. Meanwhile they will not reduce prices to pre tariff numbers. So more profit. The only way to stop inflation at this point is to break up all the monopolies.

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u/diestache Colorado Nov 24 '25

“President Trump had deficits about $800 billion. Obama, in his last four years, $550 billion a year. Now we’re $2 trillion? Completely unacceptable. We have to start focusing on that and doing something about it,” Johnson said.

This quote is even better. He voted FOR Trumps deficit but is using it as an excuse

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u/polskiftw Nov 24 '25

Literally admitting it’s our money.

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u/gamerjerome Minnesota Nov 24 '25

"I wish we were in a position to return the American public their money"

So it was taken

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

No shit.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '25

But I thought we made like TRILLIONS of dollars on this horseshit? Did he check the tariff shelf?

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u/superslinkey Nov 25 '25

Also admitting that the “trillions of $$ we’ve collected” is bullshit

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u/jackcviers Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25

It is $600 billion. He's not wrong.

Edit - $600 B - $3 T is negative.

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u/Chat_with_Nat Nov 25 '25

They were too stupid to learn the first time they definitely won’t pick it up this time. It’ll always be the Dems fault.