There are no savings from DOGE
We cannot afford to spend $400 billion on a publicity stunt to score political points.
Note: This is an open letter to Senators Jim Banks and Todd Young, and Congresswoman Erin Houchin.
Senators and Congresswoman,
We are $36 trillion in debt. Back in 1984, our entire national debt was $1.5 trillion. Our annual budget deficit in 2024 alone was $1.8 trillion. Let me put that into perspective. I am 51 years old. When I was 10 years old, the entire national debt was less than the budget deficit when I was 50 years old.
This leads to an important realization: There are NO savings from the federal Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. With the crushing national debt and the interest payments alone, the only way we legitimately have "savings" in the budget is if we have a budget surplus. As long as there is a budget deficit of even one penny, there are no savings.
This is why it is preposterous for the Trump Administration to propose sending a $5000 refund check to American households. If we sent the refund to 79 million households, the price tag would be just under $400 billion, from the "savings" created by DOGE. The problem, as I explained above, is that there are no "savings" and there is no money available to send people checks.
These are serious times demanding serious people who are serious about public policy. For a quarter century, both Republicans and Democrats have squandered away the future of generations of Americans - including generations yet to be born - with wildly irresponsible deficit spending. At a time when the budget deficit was out of control at the end of 2020, President Trump demanded Congressional Democrats spend more money on pandemic relief to Americans, after the federal government had already blown up the budget with previous rounds of pandemic relief checks.
The proposed DOGE checks are not serious policy-making. This is open bribery of voters to get public approval for President Trump, and it comes at a price tag we cannot afford. Worse yet, it would erase any efficiency gains that come from reducing irresponsible federal deficit spending in other areas. I am asking you to fight against this proposal and fight for responsible fiscal policy and spending cuts. This is not what America voted for last year.