Legislators are still discussing the potential for a DOGE stimulus check, a concept that has gained traction on social media.
Last week, President Donald Trump spoke about the idea at the Saudi-sponsored FII PRIORITY Summit held in Miami Beach, Florida.
“We are contemplating allocating 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to debt reduction,” Trump stated.
However, the power to approve a stimulus check lies beyond just Trump’s authority. Congress would need to ratify the proposal prior to any federal government issuance of stimulus payments.
Here’s what residents of Arizona should understand regarding the advocacy for DOGE to provide stimulus checks to Americans from its accrued savings, as well as the latest responses from lawmakers.
What do officials say about the DOGE stimulus check?
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, appears to oppose the idea of stimulus checks driven by DOGE actions. During the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, he visibly reacted when the notion of stimulus checks proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency was brought up.
“Politically, it would certainly benefit us, you know, as everyone would receive a check,” Johnson remarked to the audience. “However, if we consider our core principles, fiscal responsibility is what defines us as conservatives. Our national debt is at $36 trillion, and we are faced with a substantial deficit. We should focus on reducing our debt, right?”
Other political figures have voiced skepticism or disapproval regarding the initiative. Republican Senators Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, Thom Tillis, and Rand Paul have all indicated that they favor addressing the deficit prior to issuing any stimulus checks.
Senator Ted Cruz from Texas expressed an interest in reviewing the plan’s details. Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri stated that while he supports the idea of passing savings to Americans, he’d prefer it be accomplished through the child tax credit.
How much money has DOGE saved so far?
The DOGE website (doge.gov/savings) claims to keep track of its financial savings.
As of February 24, the site reports having saved $65 billion through a “mixture of fraud detection/deletion, contract and lease cancellations, renegotiation of contracts and leases, asset sales, cancellation of grants, workforce reductions, alterations to programs, and regulatory savings.”
According to the DOGE website, it publishes documentation of its budget-cutting initiatives, but the majority of items listed pertain to contracts terminated across various federal departments and agencies.
What is DOGE? How does DOGE relate to politics?
DOGE, short for the Department of Government Efficiency, primarily aims to discover methods to reduce spending and regulations. The term also references a cryptocurrency known as dogecoin.
Musk was appointed to lead the organization by Trump shortly after his electoral victory. Trump established the department with an executive order on his first day in office.
Recent court documents have raised questions about Musk’s position within DOGE, claiming he serves as a “senior advisor to the president” instead of as the head of DOGE. The filings further noted that the department operates independently from the White House.
As of February 21, the DOGE website asserted to have saved $55 billion through actions including fraud detection/deletion, contract and lease cancellations, renegotiation of contracts and leases, asset disposals, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic adjustments, and regulatory savings.
However, a USA TODAY investigation found that the DOGE website published misleading information regarding its claimed savings, including a nearly $8 billion discrepancy.
The documented contracts, grants, and real estate licenses available on the DOGE website totaled only around $16.5 billion, which fell substantially short of the claimed $55 billion in savings. This discrepancy included an inflated figure attributed to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract that DOGE stated was valued at $8 billion, when it was actually worth just $8 million.
