• Trump and Elon Musk keep talking up the idea of sending some DOGE savings to Americans.
• GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, keep batting it down.
• The president can't do this on his own — he'd need Congress to approve it.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk keep talking up the "DOGE Dividend" — turning a portion of the Department of Government Efficiency's eventual savings into checks to taxpayers.

But for the DOGE checks to become reality, Congress would have to authorize it. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters as much on Thursday, pointing to the ongoing budget reconciliation process on Capitol Hill.

So far, most Republicans aren't biting — including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

"I mean, politically, that would be great for us," Johnson said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday. "But if you think about our core principles, right? Fiscal responsibility is what we do."

"We have a $36 trillion federal debt, we have a giant deficit that we're contending with," Johnson continued. "I think we need to pay down the credit card."

That's similar to what other Republicans are saying — that Congress should be balancing the federal budget and paying down the national debt before any talk of sending out checks.

"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," Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming told reporters. "But when we're $36 trillion in debt, we've dug ourselves a pretty big hole."

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told reporters that he's "all for it after they balance the budget." Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told Business Insider he'd "want to see the details" of the plan.

With Democrats largely shunning DOGE, the legislative path for the checks is largely closed off — unless Republicans change their mind.

That hasn't stopped Musk from talking it up.

During his own appearance at CPAC on Thursday, the billionaire businessman likened the checks to the "spoils of battle" and expressed optimism about the idea.

"I talked to the president, he's supportive of that, and so it sounds like that's something we're going to do," Musk said.

The "DOGE Dividend" was first proposed by investor James Fishback, who pitched the checks as a way to engage the mass public in DOGE's efforts and pay "restitution" to taxpayers.

According to Fishback's formulation, 79 million households — those that are net taxpayers — would receive $5,000 checks in 2026, funded by 20% of the money saved by DOGE.

That's based on an assumption that DOGE cuts $2 trillion from the federal budget. In recent weeks, Musk and Trump have revised that goal down to about $1 trillion.