Sponsor
Henry Cuellar
Representative · D-TX
The bill provides substantial, targeted one‑time payments to low‑ and middle‑income taxpayers (especially families with children) to offset tariff-driven costs, at the tradeoff of large federal outlays, implementation complexity, privacy/payment‑integrity risks, and reduced congressional control over execution.
Low- and middle-income taxpayers (including many families) would receive a one-time cash payment drawn from a $231.35B pool to offset higher consumer costs, providing immediate financial relief.
Parents and families with qualifying children would receive an additional child bonus (statutory $125 per child subject to available funds), increasing household cash flow for households with children.
The bill centralizes administration with the Treasury Secretary and enables automatic payments, direct deposit, and simplified filing for non‑filers, making distribution faster and easier to access for many recipients.
Funding one‑time payments up to $231.35B would increase federal outlays and could raise the deficit or require offsets, cuts, or tax increases affecting all taxpayers.
Tying relief to determinations about which IEEPA-era tariffs 'lack congressional authorization' and related legal findings could create administrative and legal complexity that delays payments to eligible recipients.
Households above the $400,000 AGI cutoff and other near‑threshold taxpayers would be excluded, creating fairness disputes and abrupt eligibility cliffs for some families.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To provide direct refunds to taxpayers for increased consumer costs attributable to tariffs imposed without congressional authorization.
Introduced March 9, 2026 by Henry Cuellar · Last progress March 9, 2026
Creates a one-time $231.35B Treasury rebate program that issues automatic payments to individual tax filers with AGI ≤ $400,000, plus a $125 per-child bonus funded from savings from excluding high earners.
Representative · D-TX
Provides a one-time, $231.35 billion federal rebate program that directs the Treasury (via the IRS) to issue automatic payments to individual tax filers with AGI $400,000 or less, scaled by filing status, to compensate consumers for tariff-driven price increases imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It also creates a $125 per-child bonus for qualifying children that is paid only from savings produced by excluding very high‑income filers and is subject to a total aggregate cap; the IRS must use existing return data, offer simplified filing for non-filers, and report regularly to Congress until all payments are distributed.