(NEXSTAR) — Are you awaiting a stimulus check resulting from the cuts that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims it is implementing? The wait might continue for some time.
During a recent event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Elon Musk was asked about any updates regarding the “DOGE checks” being disseminated to the American populace.
Musk acknowledged that determining whether specific checks are issued is “somewhat up to Congress and possibly the president,” but emphasized that reducing “wasteful spending” would ultimately enhance the economy.
He asserted that this would be true “regardless of whether a check is issued or not.”
“As government spending becomes more efficient and is reduced, the tax burden from inflation is alleviated,” Musk explained to the audience in a video shared by USA TODAY. “Therefore, you will be better off if resources in the United States are optimized and not squandered.”
“We have made substantial progress, yet there remains a significant amount of work ahead,” Musk added.
For months, both President Donald Trump and Musk have been hinting at the possibility of converting DOGE’s reported savings into stimulus checks for American citizens.
James Fishback, the CEO of the investment firm Azoria, is credited with proposing the concept of distributing $5,000 “DOGE dividend” checks to Americans. He informed NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that this dividend initiative “is entirely reasonable” and would motivate individuals to report wasteful spending to DOGE, with potentially larger payouts linked to greater savings identified.
Trump also proposed utilizing the savings to pay down federal debt in mid-February. This aligns with Fishback’s original suggestion of channeling 20% of DOGE’s savings into stimulus checks while allocating the remainder to debt reduction.
In order to receive a $5,000 check, DOGE would need to implement sufficient cuts to meet its $2 trillion target — a target that Musk previously described as the “best case outcome.” As of Tuesday, DOGE asserts that it has saved $140 billion (though some of these claimed cuts have been questioned), translating to less than $870 per taxpayer.
While DOGE claims that these savings would benefit approximately 161 million individual federal taxpayers, not every American may receive a check if they are ultimately issued.
Under Fishback’s plan, the checks would exclusively be available to American households that pay income taxes. According to previous reports by NewsNation, about 40% of households did not pay federal income taxes in 2022 (typically due to low or no income).
Some individuals, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have also expressed opposition to implementing checks for Americans.
“If you consider our core principles, fiscal responsibility is fundamental to what we stand for as conservatives,” Johnson stated in late February. “That’s our identity. With a $36 trillion federal debt and a staggering deficit, we should focus on reducing our debt first.”
Preston Brashers, a tax policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, labeled “stimmy checks” as a “bad idea” around the same period. He cautioned that such payments could reignite inflation “with a vengeance.”
However, Fishback previously contended that if the checks are financed by the deficit and funded through “DOGE-driven savings,” they would not induce inflation.
Others have suggested that the payments might not even be substantial enough to create a significant impact.
“I doubt they would be inflationary because I can’t envision them being large enough,’’ Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, commented to The Associated Press.
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