NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (The Hill) Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) threw cold water on the idea of using savings from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) government-slashing activities to send checks to Americans. 

That marks a break from President Trump and tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, who have floated the idea in recent days. 

Asked about the idea by Newsmax host Rob Finnerty on the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) stage on Thursday, Johnson was less than enthusiastic. 

“Well, look. I mean, politically that would be great for us, you know, it gives everybody a check,” Johnson said. 

“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, we have a giant deficit that we’re contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?” Johnson said.

The crowd responded with applause.

Trump on Wednesday said the administration was considering using the DOGE savings to potentially cut checks to Americans, in addition to using it to pay down debt.

“There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20 percent goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible,” Trump said at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute gathering in Miami.

The idea appeared to come from an Arizona CEO who posted the idea of a “DOGE Dividend” on the social platform X. Musk responded on Tuesday: “Will check with the President.”