Musk: “Potential to Increase Actual Dollars Received by Citizens”
In a significant development that could affect millions of retirees and disability recipients, Elon Musk has suggested that Social Security beneficiaries may soon receive their own version of the “Doge dividend” checks being proposed for taxpayers.
The head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) announced his optimism in a social media post Sunday evening that has already garnered over 29 million views. “We are increasingly optimistic that as the immense waste and fraud are eliminated from Social Security and medical that there is potential to increase actual dollars received by citizens and better healthcare,” Musk wrote.
This marks the first time Doge has explicitly proposed increasing Social Security payments based on savings identified in the program, potentially addressing concerns that the original Doge dividend proposal would exclude millions of retirees and disability recipients who don’t file federal income taxes.
Expanding Beyond Taxpaying Households
Until now, the proposed Doge dividend checks—estimated at around $5,000 per household—were specifically targeted at the approximately 79 million American households that pay federal income taxes. This left many Social Security recipients who don’t file tax returns wondering if they would be excluded.
The original proposal, drafted by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback, explicitly stated that “the conditional nature of the tax refund, available only to payers of federal income tax in fiscal year 2025” would be a key feature of the program.
Musk’s latest statement suggests that a parallel program might be created specifically for Social Security recipients, using funds recovered from alleged waste and fraud within the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Rapid Implementation of SSA Changes
The proposal comes amid significant structural changes at the Social Security Administration. Just three days ago, the SSA announced an organizational realignment of its Office of Analytics, Review and Oversight (OARO), which is responsible for fraud detection and prevention efforts.
According to an SSA press release dated February 21st, the functions of OARO will be moved to existing parts of the agency to “streamline layers of management, increase data sharing with essential Social Security components, and speed the opportunities to identify fraud, waste and abuse and implement needed solutions.”
The SSA has also terminated cooperative agreements with the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, a program for research on Social Security retirement and disability policy issues. This move alone is expected to result in approximately $15 million in cost savings for fiscal year 2025.
White House Working with Congress on Original Dividend Proposal
The Social Security dividend proposal comes as Congress is already working to implement the original Doge dividend plan through the reconciliation process.
A White House spokesperson recently confirmed: “This is all going to be worked on through the reconciliation process with Congress that’s going underway right now. As you’ve seen, the Senate’s moving a bill, the House is moving a bill. The president has great confidence in both chambers to deliver on his priorities.”
President Trump has expressed support for the concept, stating at a recent event that he was considering “a new concept where we give 20% of the Doge savings to American citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt.”
Questions About Implementation and Eligibility
While the proposal to include Social Security recipients in the Doge dividend program has generated excitement, numerous questions remain about implementation:
- Would payments be proportional to current benefit levels or distributed equally?
- Would all Social Security recipients qualify, including those who also pay federal income taxes?
- When might these payments be distributed?
- How would savings within the Social Security program be verified and calculated?
The new Acting Social Security Commissioner, Lee Dudek, has assured beneficiaries that “Doge personnel cannot make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have read access.”
Criticism and Concerns
Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups have expressed concern about Doge’s intervention in the Social Security Administration. Former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley warned that Doge’s approach could potentially lead to “interruption of benefits.”
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, emphasized the sensitive nature of SSA data, noting that “SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans.”
Some critics have also questioned whether the dividend checks could fuel inflation. However, proponents argue that unlike traditional stimulus payments, these dividends would represent a redistribution of previously allocated funds rather than new government spending.
