DOGE stimulus checks: fact or fiction?

Welcome to The Money, where we break down financial news and provide the TL;DR version of how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.

President Donald Trump announced that he's considering an idea first proposed by an investment firm CEO to issue stimulus checks to Americans from the claimed savings of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

"We're considering giving 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to paying down the debt," Trump said in a tangent during the Saudi-sponsored FII PRIORITY Summit?in Miami Beach on Wednesday.

But is there really money to be distributed?

The pronouncement came on the same day as reporting from USA TODAY showed that DOGE's website published misleading information on the amount of money it has claimed to save, including a nearly $8 billion error.

What IRS layoffs could mean for tax refunds and help

Six thousand IRS workers could get pink slips this week as the Trump administration continues aggressively downsizing the federal government, according to media reports.

With tax season already underway, this could be devastating for taxpayers who want fast refund checks or need assistance, some accountants said. The IRS already is understaffed and has difficulty hiring and retaining employees, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), an independent organization within the IRS.

"Millions of Americans plan their budgets around timely refunds every filing season. These reckless decisions on the part of Elon Musk and the Trump administration will likely cause serious financial hardship for people across the country," Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), and seven Democratic committee members said in a letter to the Trump administration on Tuesday.

Could federal layoffs spark a DC recession?

The Trump administration’s sweeping layoffs of federal employees already appear to be pushing up joblessness in Washington, D.C., and an economist projects they'll tip the city into a recession this year.

The developments are rocking an area of the country that traditionally has served as a?bastion of steady employment and economic stability through slowdowns or downturns that have roiled other parts of the country.

Nationally, layoffs have remained historically low and forecasters expect solid economic growth this year with little chance of recession.

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