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Jim Clyburn Rails Against DOGE Cuts: We Need To Find Balance Between ‘Efficiency And Effectiveness’
Forbes Breaking News
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4/18/2025
During Rep. Jim Clyburn's (D-SC) Thursday town hall, he answered questions about DOGE cuts.
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00:00
Thank you, Congressman. We now have a question from Patricia Pringle of Pinewood, South Carolina.
00:11
Is Ms. Pringle here? There she is. Can somebody hand me right down here, front row?
00:21
Yes, Ms. Pringle. Question for the Congressman.
00:23
Thank you. Welcome, Congressman Clarence to Clarence County.
00:27
We love you here in Clarence County, even though it didn't reflect that in the last election, but we do love you.
00:33
We want you to know that. But my question is, what are your thoughts on the Trump-must-Doge cuts
00:40
and the impact it is having or will have on the state of South Carolina?
00:45
Well, I just thank you so much for that, and thank you for expressing your love.
00:51
We hope we can get more people to show that love the next time.
00:57
When I was in high school over at Old Lenton High School, one of my best friends was a guy who, I won't call this name,
01:15
but he's passed away. But there were three of us who were real good buddies.
01:20
I wanted to go to South Carolina State, what I did. One of them, we called him Bubba, he went to South Carolina Area Trade,
01:31
as we call it back then, now Denmark Tech.
01:35
But the other one, all he ever wanted to do, because his parents lived in Washington,
01:42
and he went to school down there every year and every summer, he would go with his parents.
01:48
It was not unusual for that kind of arrangement to be in those days.
01:54
But all he ever wanted to do was to drive a transit bus in D.C.
02:01
That was his aspiration.
02:03
He wanted to finish high school, he wanted to get a job, driving that bus in D.C.
02:08
He did finish high school. He did go to Washington, and he got the job that he dreamed about.
02:21
About five or six years later, he got fired from the job.
02:29
And the reason he got fired from the job was because all the bus drivers were on the clock.
02:39
Your bus had to be at this corner at a certain time.
02:45
And then, at a certain time, you had to be at another corner.
02:51
That's the efficiency of the operation.
02:54
That's the Elon Musk way of doing it.
03:01
So, Freddie got fired because he was not keeping that schedule.
03:08
Why?
03:09
Because if somebody left their house late,
03:15
they would be running down the street waving for the bus to stop.
03:19
Freddie would stop.
03:20
Anybody who wanted to be efficient would go on to the next stop.
03:29
And so, what I say, I would be for Doge if the E stood for effectiveness rather than efficiency.
03:39
What do we do to make government run effectively?
03:49
We know how to make it efficient.
03:51
Just stay on time.
03:54
But to be effective, you got to pick up the passengers.
03:57
And so, what we have to do, it seems to me,
04:05
is to find a balance between that efficiency and that effectiveness.
04:12
That's what you got to do, Mr. Mayor.
04:14
Let me give you a good example of how that works.
04:18
When Summerton lost its entire water system,
04:23
the whole thing failed.
04:26
There are a lot of reasons.
04:27
I read all the news reports.
04:30
But in the middle of that,
04:33
the governor approached me about helping
04:37
get a new bridge on I-95.
04:42
That bridge is 60-some-odd years old.
04:49
60 or 9, I believe.
04:52
And we needed a new bridge.
04:56
So the governor said to me,
04:59
and this is another example of why,
05:01
this isn't partisanship with me.
05:03
Henry McMaster and I are as good of friends as you'll find.
05:13
We are really good friends.
05:18
I can't stand his politics, and he can't stand mine.
05:23
But that's got nothing to do with serving the people of South Carolina.
05:27
So Henry called me.
05:35
He says, we got $175 million from the state to do this bridge.
05:43
But the bridge has cost $350 million
05:47
because we want to put a bridge in there
05:49
that will be three lanes on either side.
05:52
That's going to be a six-lane bridge
05:53
with a separate lane for bicycles and walking
05:57
and all of this.
05:59
He says, I want to send the highway department over
06:01
to sit with you
06:02
because I want you to help me
06:05
get $175 million from the federal government.
06:09
So they came.
06:11
I sat with them.
06:12
And they showed me what they wanted to do.
06:15
I thought it was a pretty bridge.
06:17
Good-looking bridge.
06:19
But I said to them,
06:22
I said, you know,
06:23
I would like for y'all to go back
06:25
and redesign this bridge.
06:28
We got the Lake Man Reasoning Water Agency
06:30
sitting over here.
06:32
It's producing water
06:33
for the Volvo plant.
06:37
It's producing water
06:38
for all the people on this side,
06:41
the south side of the lake.
06:44
And here's the little town of Sumpton
06:46
sitting on the north side of the lake.
06:49
And their whole water system just failed.
06:54
How about redesign this bridge
06:55
and see what you can do
06:58
by putting big pipes on this bridge
07:01
so we can get water
07:02
from the Lake Man Reasoning Water Agency
07:05
right under this bridge,
07:08
attached to the bridge with pipes
07:10
to take water over
07:11
into Clowden County
07:13
so the people of Summerton
07:15
can get water.
07:17
And then,
07:18
let's talk.
07:24
Well, they told me
07:25
it'll cost $30 million.
07:28
An additional $30 million.
07:29
And I said,
07:29
okay.
07:31
How much y'all got now?
07:36
They came back with a new bridge,
07:38
new design bridge,
07:39
and we got the money.
07:41
And the reason we got the money,
07:44
according to a person
07:45
that came to me and said,
07:47
congratulations.
07:49
You all made that bridge
07:50
about more than a road.
07:53
It became a health.
07:55
so that to me
08:04
is what it's all about.
08:08
How do you look
08:09
at the needs of the community?
08:12
This county,
08:15
in spite of the way
08:18
people voted,
08:20
it doesn't bother me.
08:23
I would like to win the county.
08:25
But the fact is this.
08:30
The whole idea
08:31
about the bill
08:34
that got wrapped
08:36
into the so-called
08:37
infrastructure bill
08:39
to make broadband
08:44
accessible and affordable,
08:47
it started right here
08:48
in Clowden County.
08:50
Some of you may know
08:51
that story.
08:52
when Serena Williams
08:55
asked for my help
08:58
on an issue
09:00
that she had
09:02
with the family,
09:04
whatever that tournament,
09:06
tennis tournament
09:06
is down in Charleston.
09:08
What is it, Angie?
09:10
Family circle.
09:11
That's my tennis
09:13
player over there.
09:15
She loved tennis.
09:16
I hope she one day
09:17
learned to play.
09:21
The family circle.
09:22
Come.
09:24
So,
09:25
I told Serena
09:28
I'll be pleased
09:28
to help her,
09:30
but it would cost her.
09:34
She said,
09:34
well, what would it cost?
09:35
I said,
09:37
it'll cost you
09:38
a couple hundred laptops
09:40
because I want
09:43
some laptops
09:44
for the children
09:46
at Scotch Branch High School.
09:49
You all may remember that.
09:53
Well,
09:54
we made the deal.
09:54
I thought I had
09:57
done something.
09:58
I called Rose Wilder,
10:01
the late Rose Wilder
10:02
who was superintendent
10:03
at the time.
10:04
I said,
10:04
Rose,
10:05
I want to tell you
10:06
about something
10:07
I just did.
10:08
And I noticed
10:09
she didn't react
10:11
the way I thought
10:12
she should.
10:14
I said,
10:14
Rose,
10:15
did you hear
10:16
what I just said?
10:17
I just got
10:17
these laptops
10:18
for your kids.
10:19
She said,
10:19
well,
10:19
what are you going
10:20
to do
10:20
with these laptops?
10:22
I said,
10:22
well,
10:22
put them in the library.
10:23
and let
10:25
the students
10:26
check laptops
10:27
out the library
10:28
just like
10:29
they check books.
10:31
She said,
10:32
yeah,
10:32
that's fine.
10:33
But what they're
10:34
going to do
10:34
with them
10:35
when they get them
10:35
home?
10:37
And that's
10:38
when it hit me.
10:40
At the time,
10:41
34% adoption rate
10:43
in the county
10:44
or in the school district.
10:48
That's when I knew
10:49
there's one thing
10:51
to give them
10:51
a laptop.
10:53
it's something
10:54
else
10:55
to make it
10:56
effective.
11:00
And the only way
11:01
to make that
11:02
laptop effective
11:04
was to get
11:04
broadband.
11:07
And so,
11:08
I went back
11:09
to Washington.
11:10
I got me
11:11
20 people
11:12
from rural places
11:14
all over the country.
11:16
And we sat down
11:17
in my conference room.
11:18
and we pledged
11:21
to each other
11:21
that we were not
11:23
going to let
11:24
an infrastructure bill
11:25
go through the house
11:26
unless we treat
11:29
the information highway
11:30
the same way
11:32
we treat
11:32
the interstate highway.
11:35
And so that's
11:35
what happened.
11:36
And we got
11:37
$65 billion
11:39
for broadband
11:41
in that bill.
11:44
And so when
11:45
the governor
11:45
called me
11:46
on the
11:48
she never
11:49
read the date
11:50
January 6th
11:52
2021
11:52
I got a call
11:54
from
11:56
Governor
11:56
McNaster
11:57
asking
11:58
about my safety.
12:00
That's our friendship.
12:01
and we discussed
12:05
to him
12:06
I was fine.
12:07
He said
12:08
well I'm going
12:08
to go to the legislature
12:09
and I'm going
12:11
to ask for some money
12:12
to get started
12:12
on your broadband
12:13
program.
12:16
And we had
12:16
a joint press conference
12:18
announcing
12:20
that by the end
12:22
of this year
12:24
by the end
12:27
of 2025
12:28
I hope we stay
12:29
on schedule
12:29
every residence
12:32
and every
12:34
business
12:34
in the state
12:36
of South Carolina
12:37
will be
12:39
connected
12:40
to the internet.
12:48
$650 million
12:52
and we got
12:54
all the money
12:55
sitting in the
12:56
bank to do it.
12:58
We're going
12:59
to do it.
13:00
That's
13:01
what we do.
13:08
All right.
Recommended
8:01
|
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