Trump weighs direct payments to Americans from DOGE savings

MIAMI—President Trump said he is considering using a portion of the savings from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative to provide direct payments to Americans.

“We’re thinking about giving 20% back to the American citizens and 20% down to pay back debt,” Trump said at the FII Priority summit, a gathering of business and tech executives sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund. “If it were a real-estate balance sheet, the debt is tiny, but we still, we still want to pay it down.”

Trump didn’t offer further details about the plan.

James Fishback, the co-founder of investment firm Azoria, suggested on social media earlier this week that the federal government issue tax-refund checks based on savings identified by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Elon Musk responded to the idea on X, saying, “Will check with the President.”

Fishback has proposed that Trump work with Congress to create a “DOGE Dividend” or tax refund check funded by $400 billion, or 20%, of the targeted $2 trillion in savings from DOGE. Fishback estimated if the savings were divided among taxpaying households it could result in $5,000 per household. It is unclear how much money DOGE has saved so far.

During his first term, Trump signed stimulus checks that were distributed to Americans as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the U.S. economy.

Musk’s team is working to implement far-reaching budget cuts and workforce reductions at federal agencies. The billionaire Tesla chief executive has said his goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending is a “best-case outcome.”

Musk, who sat in the front row for Trump’s speech, got a standing ovation when the president introduced him. Trump praised Musk as a “seriously high IQ individual.”

“Now, he’s got his faults also, I will tell you that, but not too many of them,” Trump said.

The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to fire more federal workers. The Internal Revenue Service is planning on Thursday to start laying off at least 6,000 employees, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York Times earlier reported the number of employees that could be fired.

The summit in Miami comes as Trump has called on Saudi Arabia to invest $1 trillion in the U.S.

Trump has had a close relationship with the Saudis. The first call to a foreign leader of his second term was to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who attended Wednesday’s summit, started a private-equity firm with a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund.

As one of his first actions as president, Trump signed an executive order calling for the Treasury Department and Commerce Department to set up an American sovereign-wealth fund that the president suggested could be used to purchase TikTok.

The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, was among the speakers at the Miami conference. Other guests included Oracle’s Safra Catz, Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump aide and wife of Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund.

Write to Tarini Parti at tarini.parti@wsj.com, Meridith McGraw at Meridith.McGraw@WSJ.com and Brian Schwartz at brian.schwartz@wsj.com