DOGE stimulus checks: Johnson side-steps question on Trump plan, says US has ‘giant deficit’

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled he was not a fan of a proposal to send Americans stimulus checks with the money saved by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and that he believed the funding was better directed toward the national debt.

“Well, look, I mean, politically, that would be great for us, you know, because that gives everybody a check,” Johnson said during a Q&A session at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday.

“But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That’s our brand. And we have a $36 trillion federal debt.”

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Johnson added there was a “giant deficit” — which is over $838 billion for fiscal year 2025 so far, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center — the U.S. was grappling with as well.

“I think we need to pay down the credit card. That’s what I think we need to do,” Johnson said.

It comes after President Donald Trump said he was considering giving 20% of DOGE-led savings back to U.S. taxpayers during a speech on Wednesday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading DOGE, said Tuesday on X that he would “check with the president” about the proposal after it was first floated by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback.

DOGE’s stated goal under Musk is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.

During his sit-down remarks with Newsmax on Thursday, Johnson also warned that Americans could see the “largest tax increase in U.S. history” if Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was not extended before measures expired at the end of this year.

Congressional Republicans are currently trying to use their majorities to extend Trump’s tax cuts and pass his priorities on defense and the border via a massive bill using the budget reconciliation process.

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Under reconciliation, both the Senate and House operate under simple majorities, allowing the party in power to pass a massive budget bill without help from the opposition. Normally, the Senate’s threshold for passage is two-thirds.

“We’re going to take a blowtorch to the regulatory state, get the bureaucracy back in check — lots of details, lots of subcategories under all that. But it’s going to be a big, beautiful bill. And it has to be by necessity, because that gives us the highest probability of success. Remember that I have a small margin in the House,” Johnson said. “I have one vote for much of this.”

Extending Trump’s tax cuts alone is expected to cost upwards of $4.5 trillion.