Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threw cold water on the idea of using savings from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) government-slashing activities to send checks to Americans.
That represents a departure from President Trump and tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, who have floated the idea in recent days.
Johnson was less than enthusiastic when Newsmax host Rob Finnerty asked him about the idea on the stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday.
“Okay, look. “I mean, politically, that would be great for us, because it pays everyone,” Johnson said.
“But if you consider our core principles, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That is our brand. And we have a federal debt of $36 trillion and a massive deficit to deal with. I believe we need to pay down the credit card, correct?” Johnson said.
The audience reacted with applause.
On Wednesday, Trump stated that the administration was considering using the DOGE savings to potentially cut checks to Americans in addition to paying off debt.
“There’s even a new concept under consideration in which we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20 percent to debt reduction, because the numbers are incredible,” Trump said at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute meeting in Miami.
The idea appeared to come from an Arizona CEO who posted about a “DOGE Dividend” on the social media platform X. On Tuesday, Musk responded, “Will check with the President.”
