The White House is pushing back hard on concerns that President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $5,000 checks to every American adult would blow an even bigger hole in the federal budget.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told Bloomberg TV on Thursday that the plan is “serious” and can be done without wrecking the nation’s finances.

“We can do it in a fiscally responsible way,” Hassett said. “It is a serious proposal.”

His argument? The country is generating so much wealth that Americans deserve a cut.

“Because of all the growth and all the wealth being created in the US, the president thinks we need to return more of that to the American people,” Hassett said.

The Price Tag Is Staggering

Here’s the problem: sending $5,000 to every adult in the United States would cost more than $1 trillion. And that’s before you factor in the fact that the federal debt burden is already heading toward a record high.

When pressed on what offsets might accompany the checks, Hassett punted — saying the details would have to be “negotiated with Congress.”

He did offer one legislative path: a reconciliation bill, which would allow Republicans to pass the package with a simple majority and bypass Democratic opposition entirely.

“The bottom line is there are multiple paths to getting it done — don’t underestimate President Trump,” Hassett said.

Even Republicans Aren’t Cheering

Trump floated the $5,000 proposal earlier this week, but attached a major condition: it would only happen if Republicans retain their congressional majorities in the midterms.

That framing hasn’t exactly won over GOP lawmakers. According to reports, top Republicans in both the House and Senate offered a muted reaction to the idea — hardly the enthusiastic embrace you’d expect for a trillion-dollar giveaway to voters.

Analysts are even more blunt.

“President Trump’s attention-grabbing proposal for $5,000 checks to all adults if Republicans win the midterms is a non-starter in Congress, due to the massive fiscal cost and inflationary impacts,” Evercore ISI analysts wrote in a note Friday.

The Inflation Elephant in the Room

There’s another problem: timing.

The August consumer price index released Friday showed an acceleration in prices. Hassett downplayed that, pointing to the three-month trend as evidence that inflation is still decelerating.

But economists warn that dumping $1 trillion into the economy — essentially a second round of stimulus checks — could reignite the very inflation the Fed has been fighting for years.

And with the Fed expected to hike interest rates next week, the last thing the White House needs is a new inflationary pressure point.

Asked about the Fed’s potential move, Hassett didn’t exactly calm the waters.

“I would guess that if the Fed makes a big move, the president will have something to say about it,” he said.

The Bottom Line

Trump’s $5,000 check proposal is a bold political play — and a fiscal headache of epic proportions. Hassett’s assurances that it can be done “responsibly” are doing little to convince analysts, lawmakers, or anyone who remembers what happened the last time the government sent out stimulus checks during a period of rising inflation.

For now, it’s a proposal. A serious one, according to the White House. But with a $1 trillion price tag, a skeptical Congress, and an inflation picture that’s far from settled, the road from idea to direct deposit looks very long indeed.