Rhiannon Ingle
United States President Donald Trump has announced that he’s giving $1,776 (£1,330) checks to over one million US military service members.
Speaking from the White House during an 18-minute televised address to the nation on Wednesday (17 December), the 79-year-old Republican dubbed the payment the 'warrior dividend' to commemorate the nation’s founding.
Such an initiative totals to around £1.9 billion ($2.57 billion) and will reportedly be partly funded by his tariffs and partly by the GOP tax bill - AKA his 'One Big Beautiful Bill'.
He promised that the checks 'are already on the way' and should arrive in time for Christmas Day.
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"Military service members will receive a special we call 'warrior dividend' before Christmas, a warrior dividend in honour of our nation’s founding in 1776," Trump said, at a time when the US appears to be on the cusp of launching a full-scale war on Venezuela.
"Nobody deserves it more than our military."
As per CNN, citing a senior Trump administration official, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Pentagon to distribute $2.6 billion in a one-time housing allowance supplement to eligible service members in pay grade O-6 and below.
It's believed the payments will go to around 1.28 million active-duty troops and 174,000 reserve members.
"This one-time payment exemplifies the department’s ongoing commitment to improving the housing and quality of life for our military members and their families," the official said.
Similar to many of his speeches, a large portion of Trump's nation address saw him attack the previous administration.
"For the last four years, the United States was ruled by politicians who fought only for insiders, illegal aliens, career criminals, corporate lobbyists, prisoners, terrorists and above all foreign nations which took advantage of us at levels never seen before," Trump, the first convicted felon to be president, claimed.
Trump added: "Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There has never been anything like it. I think most would agree.
"Now, under our leadership, they [prices] are all coming down and coming down fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that, too."
His Wednesday address follows a new poll, which found that Trump's economic job approval rating has dropped to a whole new low - despite the fact that he continuously brags about his approval ratings.
It's the lowest in either of his two terms as POTUS.
Trump’s approval rating decreased from 41 percent to 39 percent in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday (16 December) compared to the group's poll last week, while his disapproval rating also increased from 57 percent to 59 percent.
Meanwhile, approval of Trump’s handling of the economy slipped from 36 percent to 33 percent, while the share of respondents who said they disapprove increased from 52 percent to 58 percent.