Pete Buttigieg

So I would love, in theory, a department of government efficiency that was actually about government efficiency.

I think that would make tons of sense.

I think that would make tons of sense.

It's what I tried to do again when I was mayor.

It's what I tried to do again when I was mayor.

We took apart the small government that I was in charge of.

We took apart the small government that I was in charge of.

It was about a $300 million operation and put it back together and found that it could be radically more efficient in many ways.

It was about a $300 million operation and put it back together and found that it could be radically more efficient in many ways.

And we need to do that at the federal level.

And we need to do that at the federal level.

We used it better, I would put it that way.

We used it better, I would put it that way.

There were areas where we were able to have a certain budget line item shrink, but in a city where the average per capita income was $18,000 or $19,000 per person when I came in, we weren't handing that over in tax breaks to wealthy residents.

There were areas where we were able to have a certain budget line item shrink, but in a city where the average per capita income was $18,000 or $19,000 per person when I came in, we weren't handing that over in tax breaks to wealthy residents.

We were putting it to other use on public safety and fundamentals like that.

We were putting it to other use on public safety and fundamentals like that.

But look, again, I agree that the doge we could have

But look, again, I agree that the doge we could have

could do a lot of really good work.