NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threw chilly water on the concept of utilizing financial savings from the Trump administration’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) government-slashing actions to ship checks to People.
That marks a break from President Trump and tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, who’ve floated the concept in current days.
Requested concerning the concept by Newsmax host Rob Finnerty on the Conservative Political Motion Convention (CPAC) stage Thursday, Johnson was lower than enthusiastic.
“Well, look. I mean, politically that would be great for us, you know, it gives everybody a check,” Johnson stated.
“But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That’s our brand. And we have a $36 trillion federal debt, we have a giant deficit that we’re contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?” Johnson stated.
The group responded with applause.
Trump on Wednesday stated the administration was contemplating utilizing the DOGE financial savings to probably minimize checks to People, along with utilizing it to pay down debt.
“There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20 percent goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible,” Trump stated on the Future Funding Initiative Institute gathering in Miami.
The thought appeared to come back from an Arizona CEO who posted the concept of a “DOGE Dividend” on the social platform X. Musk responded on Tuesday: “Will check with the President.”
