President Donald Trump says he is considering an idea to issue new stimulus checks to Americans from money saved through government cuts made by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
On Capitol Hill, reactions to the idea are mixed.
Democrats have called the proposal a distraction, meant to draw attention from other activities of the Trump administration.
Some Republicans are also concerned about the effect a dividend payment could have on government spending.
"I'm very interested in eliminating the debt and the deficit," said Wyoming's Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis. "As well as getting inflation under control. So those would be my top priorities for the savings associated with DOGE."
"If there's money left after we address inflation, and the debt, and the deficit, it's always a good idea to send taxpayers their money back. But when we're $36 trillion in debt, we've dug ourselves a pretty big hole," Sen. Lummis said.
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"I like the idea of returning money to the American taxpayer," said Missouri's Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. "Whether you do that direct to every person or whether you use it to fund, for instance, a child tax credit, which would be direct relief to every working family, if they work and pay payroll taxes, that would be great."
