Elon Musk mulls giving Americans a $5,000 check based on DOGE savings.
Jerry
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency task force claims to be slashing the federal budget, which would ease the federal deficit. But now Musk is exploring the idea of using some of that money to send rebate checks to citizens.
By Fishback’s calculations, if DOGE reaches its target of $2 trillion in savings (a number that includes most of the government’s discretionary spending and which Musk himself has backtracked from in the past month), a 20% cut of that distributed to Americans would work out to $5,000 per household. The checks, he proposes, would be sent after DOGE expires next July.
DOGE, on its website, has claimed to create $55 billion in savings so far. Numerous media reports, however, have shown discrepancies in that figure, such as a New York Times story pointing out one claim of an $8 billion savings was only an $8 million one.
While the prospect of a $5,000 check will likely excite many people, it’s unclear, even if DOGE demonstrably reaches its $2 trillion savings goal, whether it could issue those rebates without Congressional approval. While Congress has shown a proclivity to follow President Donald Trump’s wishes, some Republicans would prefer any savings be put toward paying down the national debt, while others want the money to pay for an extension of tax cuts set to expire.
Source: FORTUNE
