Have you heard of the DOGE? This is the Government’s Efficiency Department, launched in 2024 after several talks between Trump and Elon Musk. It aims to bring a more innovative approach to the technological world and increase the productivity of the federal government. Responsible for numerous dismissals and the repression suffered by immigrants, the DOGE managed to raise around $165 billion. Through the social network X, James Fishback proposed that 20% of this surplus should be returned to citizens in the form of cheques.
The reality is that this measure is not yet in place, not even managed to limit and detail, since there are opinions against, who want to use this benefit to reduce the national debt.
However, as it has been argued to date, the vast majority of Americans would not be eligible for membership, so they will have to wait until it becomes official and wish for the parameters to change.
The DOGE
One of the measures carried out by the Trump administration has been the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose mission is to promote the productivity of the federal government and bring a more updated approach to the technological world. The DOGE emerged from discussions between the chairman and Elon Musk, and on 20 January 2025 it was approved by an executive order.
DOGE workers have power over certain federal agencies, which gave them the power to be responsible for the rescission of agency contracts under Trump’s orders, whose consequences have had to be taken on by small entrepreneurs. Also responsible for a huge number of dismissals, the dismantling of certain organizations, and the repression that immigrants are suffering. It also copies and stores sensitive data from government databases.
Fishback´s checks proposal
The DOGE’s economic collection has raised figures of around $165 billion. Several emails from President Trump’s political action committee have come to light, indicating the payment of $5,000 checks as an incentive for the population.
The original idea came from the CEO of the investment company Azoria, James Fishback. On his social network profile X, owned by Elon Musk, he published his proposal that 20% of those savings held by the DOGE be returned to the population in the form of checks of $5,000. He attached a very comprehensive document of 4 pages, detailing the requirements for being eligible to receive these checks, including be households paying their contributions in general income taxes and persons receiving income above a certain threshold, Leaving out all Americans with very low incomes who cannot pay federal income taxes.
$5,000 checks validation
Although this measure may be attractive to a small percentage of taxpayers, it has not been very popular.
Donald Trump echoed it in his campaign meetings, where he argued that this measure would be carried out if the DOGE exceeded the saving figure of nothing more and nothing less than $2 trillion. Current figures are a long way from reaching them and the measure has not yet been made official.
While there are still a number of proposals circulating around these savings, there are other voices such as Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, who has stated that this money should be used to reduce the national debt.
On hold
It seems that we will have to wait until all the parties agree and decide what to do with this money. Although a priori receiving a $5.00 check sounds tempting, does it really make sense to send people whose thresholds are rather high, excluding families who need it? Or would it be better to start reducing US debt?
Whatever decision is made, we will remain on hold.
In the meantime, you can stay tuned to the news related to Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE, here!
