As the Department of Government Efficiency continues its work, President Donald Trump is toying with the idea of giving Americans some of the money the DOGE is saving.
On Wednesday, Trump spoke at the Future Investment Initiative Institute Miami 2025 summit where he gave a figure to how much of those savings could be given back to Americans — 20 percent.
“There’s even, under consideration, a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20 percent goes to paying down debt because the numbers are incredible,” he told the audience.
Trump’s remarks Wednesday came after DOGE chair Elon Musk responded to a post on social media platform X by James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, who said, “President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’ — a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE.”
Fishback wanted 20 percent to of the savings to go to American taxpayers and 80 percent to go towards the deficit to which Musk replied, “Will check with the President.”
Will check with the President
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 18, 2025
Fishback concluded, if DOGE saved $2 trillion, the government could provide $5,000 checks to individual taxpayers as a “DOGE dividend.”
From Trump’s comments Wednesday, it looks like those conversations are happening.
DOGE is shaping up to be the president’s strongest weapon amidst whatever backlash Democrats can muster.
Exposing where Americans’ tax dollars are being spent — and in many cases wasted — makes the department a prime target for those officials benefiting from that waste.
The most Trump and Musk’s opposition can come up with is labeling the DOGE’s work a “constitutional crisis.”
How exposing corruption creates a crisis has yet to be explained.
As for the proposal that Trump is now speaking openly about, $5,000 can be life changing for many Americans.
After seeing their spending power diminish by way of rampant inflation courtesy of the Biden administration, Americans would rejoice if Trump actually made this initiative a reality.
To reiterate, it has only been a month. It does not appear Trump is being politically calculating in these efforts but actually trying to help the American people.
A more traditional politician may hold off on talk of giving money directly back to taxpayers this early on.
The 2026 midterm elections seem like a lifetime away, but Trump could have delayed and allowed DOGE to do more until then.
A return to taxpayers before next November would surely allow Trump to hold Republicans’ congressional gains from last year and ideally flip some seats, securing the rest of his second term for whatever he hopes to achieve.
However, if the last month is any indication, the president won’t need any help come next year when trying to hang onto a congressional majority.
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