Here's Why Americans Believe a Stimulus Check Could Be Coming After DOGE's Budget Cuts

When the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) enacted plans with Donald Trump to slash government spending by also slashing the careers of thousands of federal employees, the idea was to save money for the United States. Now, some Americans believe that Trump could give out a stimulus check in 2025 to people that reflects a portion of the money saved by these budget cuts.

But what has Trump said, if anything, about a potential DOGE stimulus check in 2025? The reason Trump signed off on firing federal employees and limiting federal spending to certain apartments was to save the country money. At the same time, some Americans believe he will use some of that money to give back to the people. And there was a proposed plan for the stimulus checks that was given to Elon Musk.

On Feb. 18, 2025, the investment firm Azoria's CEO James Fishback tweeted at Musk on X (formerly Twitter) to suggest what he called a "DOGE dividend," or stimulus check, for the American people. He wrote that it would be "a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE."

Fishback shared a document with his proposal for Musk and Trump, in which he wrote that Trump should "take 20 percent of DOGE's total savings ($400 billion) and return it to the -79 million U.S. households that will be net payers of federal income tax in CY 2025 as a tax-refund check called the 'DOGE Dividend.'" His tweet included multiple pages of his proposition.

He added that a benefit of the proposed stimulus check would be that it "compensates American taxpayers for the egregious misuse and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars that DOGE has uncovered." This is in reference to DOGE's "war on waste" and use of taxpayers' money. He also wrote that, in rewarding Americans with the checks, it would prompt them to be more likely to "report instances of waste, fraud, and abuse to DOGE."

Musk responded with a simple, "Will check with the President." While that doesn't guarantee a stimulus check from Trump in 2025, for some users on X, it also wasn't an immediate no. However, Trump has not come out to announce a stimulus check, or DOGE dividend, for the American people after his and Musk's federal cuts resulted in an alleged billions of dollars saved.

During Trump's campaign for his second term as president, one of the promises he made involved getting rid of federal income tax. His initial plan was to instead bring in income for the U.S. by implementing tariffs to other countries. According to CNN, however, getting rid of federal income tax could result in an increase of more than $7 trillion debt for the U.S. over a 10-year period, even with Trump's tariffs in place.