Now they're proposing sending out hush money checks...
Elon Musk said he will bring to President Donald Trump a proposal to send Americans rebate checks representing a portion of the money they save by slashing the federal government.
On Tuesday, Musk
posted on X that he “will check with the president” on Azoria CEO and co-founder James Fishback’s idea to send out “DOGE dividend” checks. The plan calls for returning 20 percent of the savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency back to taxpayers in the form of direct payments.
“We wanted to help make DOGE real for millions of Americans. They deserve a portion of the savings DOGE will deliver under President Trump’s leadership,” Fishback said.
Fishback, the founder of a self-styled “free thinking” investment firm, recently launched a fund backing companies that reject diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and has been a vocal supporter of Trump and Musk’s agenda.
Fishback, the founder of a self-styled “free thinking” investment firm, recently launched a fund backing companies that reject diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and has been a vocal supporter of Trump and Musk’s agenda.
If Musk successfully meets his lofty $2 trillion government savings goal, Fishback’s proposal would distribute $400 billion back to taxpayers — roughly $5,000 per household for the 78 million households that pay federal income tax. The proposed rebate would be less in the more likely scenario that the billionaire’s DOGE effort fails to reach its target.
Budget experts warn that such a rebate program would require congressional approval, and lawmakers may prefer to use that money in other ways.
Some House Republicans have suggested the savings should go toward reducing the national debt. Other Republicans are eyeing DOGE savings for a different purpose: paying for extensions of tax provisions enacted during Trump’s first term.
“If [the DOGE dividend proposal] is real, you have to have a way of estimating and collecting the amounts that are being saved and putting them into some account. Both OMB and CBO would look at that, and then Treasury would then record those amounts,” former OMB official and George Washington University lecturer of public policy and public administration F. Stevens Redburn said.
Redburn emphasized that even if there were measurable savings, Congress would still need to authorize the repayment to taxpayers and method of distribution.
Additionally, the legality of DOGE remains in flux, with several elements of Musk’s plans facing scrutiny in the courts.
The idea of government-issued checks isn’t new for Trump. During his first term in office, the government sent out two rounds of stimulus checks to millions of Americans to help keep them afloat during the pandemic.
The checks were politically popular, and former President Joe Biden lamented not putting his name on relief checks issued during his term,
calling the move “stupid.”
use to pal around w/ the Russia Mafia members in the 1980’s and before the Goblin was elected the first time members of the Russian mafia were renting one of his condos in Trump Tower…
