To give $5,000 stimulus checks to citizens, DOGE must first meet its $2 trillion savings goal, which would make the idea affordable, the Columbus Dispatch reports. In a January interview with political strategist Mark Penn, Musk said DOGE had a better chance of cutting $1 trillion instead, according to USA TODAY.

Because a plan of having DOGE turn some of its claimed government savings into dividend checks to return to the American people has been flirted with. It began on social media as a pitch from Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback.