During a rally in Wisconsin on Sunday, Elon Musk was asked when the millions of dollars reportedly saved by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) across the federal government would be returned to Americans.
He could not provide a clear answer, saying instead that it is up to the Congress and Donald Trump to decide if and when cost-cutting measures introduced by the advisory body would translate into stimulus checks for taxpayers.
Why It Matters
Musk’s DOGE, which has been tapped by the Trump administration to shrink the “bloated” size of the federal government, as the president put it, has claimed to have saved $130 billion since its creation in January by conducting mass layoffs of federal employees and other cost-saving measures. The advisory body’s final goal is $2 trillion in savings.
In February, Trump said that the administration was considering giving 20 percent of DOGE’s savings to Americans, while another 20 percent would be used to pay down debt. Whether these checks are ultimately delivered to citizens will be decided by Congress, where some opposition to the initiative has already risen.
What to Know
During remarks made at the FII Priority Summit in Miami in February, Trump discussed the possibility of $5,000 stimulus checks sent from DOGE to taxpayers in the form of “dividends.”
The idea seems to reflect that originally floated by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback, who suggested on X that Trump and Musk “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.” At the time, Musk had responded saying: “will check with the president.”
The Tesla CEO was in Wisconsin on Sunday for a rally ahead of a crucial judicial election for the state’s supreme court which could have nationwide implications.
During the event, which was attended only by Wisconsin-registered voters who had signed a petition against “activist” judges backed by one of the billionaires’ political action committees, Musk was asked about when Americans can expect to receive DOGE’s checks.
“I’m only 26 but I can imagine it is frustrating for people who have worked their entire lives to see their tax dollars go to fraud, waste, and abuse,” a woman in the audience told Musk.
“You’ve clearly shown your leadership and team is capable of transforming our government into something better than we see today. I just want to say—I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s wondering—but we know that DOGE has found quite a bit of money, and we would like to see some of that return to the American people,” she added. “Do you have any information on when DOGE checks will be written or sent out?”
Elon Musk speaks during a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 30, 2025. Elon Musk speaks during a town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 30, 2025. ROBIN LEGRAND/AFP via Getty Images
Musk said that while progress has been made, “there is still a tremendous amount of work to do” within the federal government.
“As government spending is made more efficient, as government spending is reduced, the tax by inflation is reduced. So one way or another, you will effectively be better off if resources in the U.S. are not wasted,” the billionaire answered.
“It’s up to the Congress and maybe the president too, you know, as to whether specific checks are cut,” he said. “But whether checks are cut or not, if you reduce wasteful spending, the economy is going to be better off.”
What People Are Saying
Brendan Duke, senior director for Federal Budget Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, previously told Newsweek: “The only way we are going to see a DOGE dividend at current course and speed is Congress pretending fake savings are real savings and enacting a deficit-financed tax cut on top of the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts they are considering as part of the extending the 2017 tax law.”
Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and economist at RIA Advisors, previously told Newsweek: “If you increase demand, without a subsequent increase in supply, inflation is the result. A tax credit would be more beneficial in helping the bottom 50 percent of income taxpayers that pay little or no taxes (they get a refund) but won’t create as big of a demand surge.”
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, previously told Newsweek: “Even with the potential savings of recent cuts, stimulus checks are an incredibly expensive endeavor for a government already deeply in debt and facing no pandemic-level emergency to undertake. I would expect legislators will hold out hope of new proposals like tax cuts and less restrictions on some government benefit programs as a way to steer eyes away from stimulus checks being the sole way to help Americans.”
What’s Next
The proposed DOGE refunds would be issued to American households that are net-income taxpayers, which means that they pay more in taxes than they get back. According to NBC News, low-income Americans would not benefit from DOGE’s stimulus checks.
But no check can be sent out without Congress approving a bill authorizing the dividends. In a previous interview with Newsweek, Fishback said that he had talked with six U.S. senators who are enthusiastic about the checks and “the bill is coming very soon.”
But some Republican lawmakers have spoken against the idea, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who said that while it would be great for the party from a political perspective, it would not be in line with the GOP’s core value not to use that money to pay the country’s debt.
“Politically, that would be great for us, you know, because everybody gets a check,” Johnson said during the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in February.
“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?”
