Americans waiting for their $5,000 DOGE stimulus checks are going to have to wait a bit longer.

And the promised checks actually may not come at all.

USA Today reported that the status of the checks is currently in limbo.

President Donald Trump had said that Americans should see a financial return from his efforts to cut government fraud and waste through the Department of Government Efficiency, unofficially headed up by billionaire Elon Musk.

“We’re considering giving 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to paying down the debt,” the president said last month.

“At $2 trillion in DOGE savings and 78 million tax-paying households, this is a $5,000 refund per household, with the remaining used to pay down the national debt.” James Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria, wrote on X in February.

Fishback is credited with coming up with the concept of the DOGE “dividend.” The checks were initially supposed to go out once DOGE expires in July of 2026.

But Congress would have to approve of the expenditure and USA Today reported that GOP ardor for the DOGE check has cooled in the House.

“Politically, that would be great for us, you know, because everybody gets a check,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the CPAC conference last month. “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?”

In a poll last month, 67% of respondents either strongly or somewhat supported the idea of a one-time $5,000 DOGE stimulus check.

Another sticking point could be just how much Musk has saved as a result of his cost-cutting moves through DOGE.

Musk has claimed to have saved $105 billion so far, the Daily Mail reported, or more than $650 per American taxpayer.

But fiscal reports have indicated that that level of savings has not materialized.

In addition, the deficit and spending have increased this year and Congress is facing a potential government shutdown.

All that could mitigate against the federal government issuing DOGE stimulus checks to American taxpayers.