Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says the U.S. “can’t afford” the tariff dividend checks President Donald Trump has proposed.

“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, according to The Hill .

“We’ll have at least a $2 trillion deficit this year,” said Johnson, a leading proponent of confronting the nation’s growing deficit. “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.”

The Congressional Budget Office last month projected the federal deficit would hit $1.8 trillion for 2025, The Hill said.

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