The Department of Government Efficiency has proposed issuing $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers as part of an initiative to reduce government size and federal spending. The temporary organization must achieve its $2 trillion savings goal to fund the plan.

While Elon Musk, the unofficial leader at DOGE, doubts its feasibility, President Donald Trump remains optimistic.

Is DOGE’s $5,000 stimulus check proposal similar to the one in 2020?

According to USA Today, Trump confirmed Wednesday his administration was assessing the idea of sending 20% of DOGE’s savings to Americans. The initiative is similar to the $2 trillion bipartisan stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by Trump in 2020, which provided $1,200 checks to millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds aided tax filers from the previous two years, Social Security recipients, veterans and small businesses.

Trump says he “loves it!”

While DOGE’s $5,000 stimulus checks remain in the early talking stages, Trump still believes it’s a great idea to help put money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans. On Wednesday, he shared his thoughts about it during two separate instances where he doubled down on its effectiveness as they continue downsizing the government.

“We’re considering giving 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to paying down the debt,” Trump said while speaking at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami Beach.

Later in the day, Trump was asked on Air Force One about the proposal and said: “I love it. A 20% dividend, so to speak, for the money that we’re saving by going after the waste and fraud and abuse and all the other things that are happening,” Trump said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

 

Where did the idea of DOGE’s $5,000 stimulus plan come from?

Azoria Investments CEO James Fishback proposed the idea on Feb. 14 on X, formerly Twitter, stating that Americans needed some financial relief and that it would further help them entrust the government again.

“American taxpayers deserve a ‘DOGE Dividend’: 20% the money that DOGE saves should be sent back to hard-working Americans as a tax refund check. It was their money in the first place!

At $2 trillion in DOGE savings and 78 million tax-paying households, this is a $5,000 refund per household, with the remaining used to pay down the national debt,” Fishback wrote alongside a video, tapping Musk to join the idea, “let’s do this! This is how we rebuild trust in our government.”

Michael Smerconish pushes back on DOGE’s stimulus plan

On Saturday, Fishback appeared on CNN’s Smerconish, with host Michael Smerconish debating the $5,000 stimulus plan with him. Newsweek reported Fishback doubled down on how the funds would provide long-term relief to Americans and the government.

“This is a real plan to send the savings that DOGE generates over the next couple of years right back into the pockets of hard-working Americans all across this country,” Fishback said.

Meanwhile, Smerconish warned that the plan could deepen the nation’s debt.

“We owe $36 trillion, we owe $106,000 each, so whatever the savings ought to be, it’s not like President Trump’s doing us a favor by giving us 20%,” Smerconish said. “Everything ought to go to the debt, because the Peterson [Institute] people say by 2050, 50% of all revenue is going to go to satisfying interest on the debt. We should be paying the debt.”

As the duo continued the dialogue, Smerconish told Fishback, “This is Madoff-like. This is a Ponzi scheme.”

He continued, “As much as I want to see us cut waste, fraud and abuse, it is an absolute fraud to say to the American people, because of what Musk is doing, we have five grand to give each of you. The only way we have five grand is if we’re borrowing it, because we’re that far in debt. I’m trying to meet you halfway, which is simply to say, what a good thing that finally we’re going to look at waste, fraud and abuse, albeit it shouldn’t be in this haphazard fashion. But let’s at least be honest with the American people that whatever we, quote, unquote, save, we already owe.”

Trump’s executive order signed on Jan. 20 renamed the United States Digital Service to the United States DOGE Service. Despite the order mentioning a USDS administrator would report to the White House chief of staff, the White House has said Musk isn’t in charge of DOGE and is instead a presidential adviser, The Associated Press reported. Regardless of who the USDS administrator is, according to the executive order detailing its creation, “The U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization shall terminate on July 4, 2026.”

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