During a CPAC event, the speaker appeared cool to the idea floated by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Thursday appeared cool to the idea that the Trump administration could send checks to Americans based on savings related to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
When discussing the prospect on Thursday, Johnson downplayed the idea in light of the budget deficit, while allowing that it would be politically beneficial to the Republican Party.
“Everybody loves a check, but … we have a giant deficit. I think we need to pay down the credit card,” he told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) event held in Washington on Thursday. “Fiscal responsibility is what we do,” he added, according to live streaming video of the event.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, a Trump adviser who championed the work of DOGE, said that checks might be distributed to Americans.
A day earlier, Trump said at the FII Priority summit, an investment conference in Miami, that his administration is “thinking about giving 20 percent back to the American citizens and 20 percent back to pay down debt.”
Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending. “They’ll be reporting it themselves,” Trump said. “They participate in the process of saving us money.”
Later, as the president flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One, a reporter asked him about the plan floated by Musk.
“I love it,” Trump said.
Earlier this week, Musk wrote on his social media platform X that he “will check with the president” in response to a suggestion that Trump and Musk should announce a “DOGE Dividend” that would send a refund to taxpayers from part of the savings resulting from DOGE’s audits of federal agencies and programs. Its efforts to downsize the government have also led to thousands of federal government employees being fired or laid off.
