What do a hedge fund manager, a firefighter and a car salesman have in common?
Three CEOs in the Senate
New senators Dave McCormick, Tim Sheehy and Bernie Moreno flipped Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Montana and Ohio to the Republican Party. Life in the Senate is a far cry from their old jobs. They have a mission to get the nation's budget in order, continuing Elon Musk's mission of saving taxpayer dollars.
They found that Washington resists being treated like a business.
McCormick said, "When you're a CEO, there is a scoreboard which shows success or failure. The Senate has none. It's designed to check the emotion of the moment. So how do you be effective, recognizing that the institution is designed to go slowly?"
Moreno said, "When I ran a company, every day the comment was, how do we do more and deliver better service for less money? In this place it's always more money, more people equals better results. Elected leaders don't fear their voters at all."
Sheehy was surprised to find his expertise was what Congress needed when wildfires devastated Los Angeles. He has his fingerprint on more than a dozen bills to address natural disasters.
All three say that any businessman would scrutinize the books and make cuts. Trimming the budget is about protecting future generations. "There's a healthy tension," McCormick said. "I feel a responsibility to get the balance right."
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