Trump Has Floated the Idea of DOGE Sending out Checks, but Is That Real?

Sending people money directly is one of the most popular things that any elected leader can do. People like money. So, when Donald Trump suggested that the savings that Elon Musk's DOGE has found inside of the federal government might be sent to Americans as a check, many were understandably intrigued.

Now, those who heard the idea are wondering when they might actually receive their checks. Hold your horses, though. We don't know for sure if those checks are really coming. Here's what we do know, though.

On Feb. 19, Trump suggested that 20 percent of the savings found through DOGE could be distributed to the American people via a check. Musk said that he would discuss the idea with Trump, but there are a number of things that would need to happen before these checks could be sent out.

First, DOGE would need to meet its goal of cutting $2 trillion of federal spending. Even if you believe their somewhat questionable numbers, they are still well short of that goal at the moment.

The idea for $5,000 checks comes originally from investor Jason Fishback, who suggested on X (formerly Twitter) that Americans should be given a "DOGE dividend" as a portion of the savings, with the rest of those savings going to lower the national debt.

Fishback added that the stimulus would "incentivize Americans to report waste, fraud, and abuse in their own community. Why? Because the more that DOGE saves, the bigger their check will be."

Even if DOGE could meet its somewhat lofty goal of $2 trillion in savings, Musk and Trump alone could not act to send out the checks. Instead, they would have to work with Congress to send the money out, as Congress controls the purse strings of the federal government.

Trump did something similar in 2020, working with Congress to send out stimulus checks to every American during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That $2 trillion bill sent $1,200 to every person, and had additional stipulations for people with children. That policy was hugely popular, but Trump did not do it on his own.

If he wants to do something similar this time around, he will need to involve Congress or risk having the policy challenged in court, where it would likely be overturned as executive overreach.

Nevertheless, Trump is moving ahead in pursuit of the idea.

“I love it. A 20 percent dividend, so to speak, for the money that we're saving by going after the waste and fraud and abuse and all the other things that are happening," he said of the idea on Air Force One.

Speaker Mike Johnson struck a different tone, though.

"Politically, that would be great for us, you know, because everybody gets a check," Johnson said. "But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That's our brand and we have a $36 trillion federal debt. We have a giant deficit that we're contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?"