Sen. David Perdue: Making Washington More Results-Oriented

Senator David Perdue (R-Ga.) took office in January, 2015. Prior to being elected to the Senate, Mr. Perdue spent decades in the private sector, rising to CEO of Reebok and later Dollar General. His 2014 Senate bid was his first run for political office, and he has emphasized his business background both as a candidate and as a United States Senator. Since taking office, Senator Perdue has supported infrastructure projects such as the deepening of the Port of Savannah, as well as fiscal accountability issues including pressing for an audit of the Department of Defense. He frequently works closely with President Trump. Senator Perdue joins Merion West’s editor Erich Prince to discuss his experience as a businessperson-turned-politician, bringing private sector concepts to Washington, and his strong support for term limits for members of Congress.

Senator Perdue, good morning. Looking forward to discussing some of this intersection of business and politics. A number of business people have made that transition to politics. You’re one of them. This is the age of President Trump, but there have been others from Michael Bloomberg to Carly Fiorina. What are some of the biggest differences you’ve noticed between when you’re looking at politics as a businessperson while you’re still in the private sector to now being on the inside of things?

We have a great form of government, a representative democracy. The problem is—in Washington right now—it’s more focused on the process than getting results. When I ran, I basically had one message, and that was: “Washington is broken. If you want different results, you have to send a different kind of person.” And we now see that I got elected on that same message, and so did Trump. And Trump’s getting those results now. So from a business perspective, having priorities, due dates, and accountability are alien concepts in a bureaucracy that’s out of control in the way Washington is right now.