The Trump Administration is considering having the so-called Department of Government Efficiency give some of its savings to the American people.
The idea was originally proposed by a user on X. DOGE head Elon Musk responded, saying he would check with the President.
"I love it,” Trump said of the idea while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One. “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, I think it's a great idea."
During a speech in Miami Wednesday, Trump said the idea would include giving 20% of DOGE's savings to the American people, and 20% towards paying down the national debt.
How much DOGE is actually saving taxpayers is up for debate.
The group claims it has saved $55 billion, but the savings listed on their website Wednesday only accounted for $16.6 billion, and that's before factoring in a mislabeled ICE contract.
DOGE claimed it was worth $8 billion. It's actually worth $8 million. That error has since been fixed on the DOGE website.
RELATED STORY | In first joint interview, Trump and Musk outline goals for DOGE
But would handing it back to taxpayers be beneficial to the U.S. economy? Judge Glock, director of research at the Manhattan Institute, doesn't think so.
"It would increase the deficit, it would increase immediate consumer spending, and that would have inflationary consequences which is something we don't want right now,” said Glock. “We do have an over $1 trillion a year budget deficit. So, if we're looking at savings in the federal government, we should certainly focus on trying to reduce that deficit first before handing out any extra money to our citizens. And second, one of the things that we should focus on if we're returning taxpayer dollars to taxpayers is just reducing taxes."
This is not the first time the government has proposed giving out money to the American people.
During COVID, the Trump and Biden administrations handed out trillions of dollars in stimulus checks, which according to Glock, had a hand in exacerbating inflation.
