On Wednesday, February 19th, US President Trump (Donald Trump) stated that he is considering a plan to return 20% of the money saved from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) back to the American people while using a portion of the funds to repay debts.
During a speech at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Miami on Wednesday, Trump praised the actions taken by Elon Musk and the leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency to eliminate “government waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“Even considering a new concept, we are returning 20% of the money saved from DOGE to American citizens, with 20% allocated for debt repayment. Because these numbers are incredible,” Trump said.
By identifying fraud and abuse within the government, Trump mentioned that DOGE is saving taxpayers a significant amount of money every day.
“We are considering returning 20% to American citizens and using 20% for debt repayment,” Trump reiterated.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk stated on the X platform that he would “verify with the president” the idea of returning money to the American people.
This was in response to a post from James Fishback, CEO of investment company Azoria, proposing the concept of “DOGE dividends.” In Fishback’s post, he suggested using the savings from DOGE to send “tax refund checks” to every taxpayer.
A source familiar with the discussions revealed on Wednesday to Reuters that Fishback is currently in contact with the Trump administration regarding his proposal.
Fishback’s memo suggests distributing 20% of the saved DOGE funds, which he referred to as $400 billion, to all taxpayer households in the form of a $5,000 check after July 2026.
This calculation is based on DOGE achieving a $2 trillion reduction in expenses, with Musk describing this figure as the “best-case scenario,” although his target is $1 trillion.
According to DOGE Live Tracker data, approximately $55 billion has been reduced. However, it is unclear where these savings specifically come from. ABC News reported that DOGE released a list of canceled federal contracts on its website, totaling only about $8.6 billion in savings.
Meanwhile, economists have warned that widespread distribution of stimulus checks may exacerbate inflation.