Trump backs idea to send some DOGE savings to American citizens

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he likes the idea of giving some of the savings from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend.

He said at an investment conference in Miami that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt.

Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending.

“They’ll be reporting it themselves,” Trump said. “They participate in the process of saving us money.”

Later, as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One, he was asked by a reporter about the plan floated by Musk.

“I love it," the Republican president told reporters on the plane.

A day earlier, Musk wrote on his social media platform that he “will check with the President” in response to a suggestion that Trump and Musk should announce a ”DOGE Dividend" that would send a refund to taxpayers from part of the savings created by DOGE. Its efforts have already led to thousands of federal government employees being fired or laid off.