Governor shares video
Sunday afternoon (Feb 16), Indiana Governor Mike Braun posted a Fox Business clip from Thursday (Feb 13). He shared his name for Indiana’s version of DOGE (“IDOGE”) in the 3-minute clip (full transcript below).
DOGE refers to the “Department Of Government Efficiency” which is not an official government department and is run by the world’s richest man.
It tries to bypass the Freedom of Information Act in communications, releases websites while they’re still broken templates, and in a hurry to catch up with Elon Musk’s claim their website transparently posts their actions (the website was nearly empty at the time), updated the website’s content but left it unsecured in a way anyone could change its content.
Clip transcript
HOST: Governor Mike Braun, Republican from Indiana, joins me now. Governor, you’ve got kind of a statewide version of DOGE going don’t you?
BRAUN: I just call it IDOGE.
(Host and Braun laugh)
BRAUN: And Indiana is lucky that it’s a place that’s got structurally good cash flow.
HOST: (nodding) Yes.
BRAUN: But even in state governments, local governments, you can get crud, (host snickers) you can get bureaucracy, and you gotta stay on top of it.
It’s kinda bittersweet. Been on your show often and I’ve been the loudest voice when I was there about debt. You know it’s a fiscal crisis.
HOST: (nodding) Yes.
BRAUN: Ray is right. I talked about it until It’s blue in my face. We don’t have those issues here, but I’ve asked our own state government—it’s been run reasonably well—to find efficiencies.
Look to where you can cut 5%. (host nods along) Get better value out of it. So we’re gonna do same thing here.
I can’t—It’s kinda bittersweet now that we’re finally getting to it in DC. I spent the last six years there. So glad to see—
HOST: Yeah.
BRAUN: —that that place, which is gonna be hard to shake into probably better performance—look how they are fighting tooth and nail—
HOST: (nodding) Right.
BRAUN: We’ll be doing it as entrepreneurial governors across the spectrum of states. And I think we’ll show how it’s done and hopefully be good partners in reinforcing what they’re trying to do out there.
HOST: Well one of the big differences of course is you can’t—you can’t print money the way Washington can (laughs). So you’ve gotta meet certain fiscal responsibilities.
Of course during the Biden Administration a lot of blue states were being bailed out, but immigration really changed that. And immigration in Indiana is gonna change well.
You got a new bill going that would require Indiana law enforcement officers to notify federal immigration officials when they arrest anybody suspected of being in the country illegally.
But I’m curious, is this just for the migrants who have committed a crime? Or is it for even those who are suspected of being here illegally? I know that’s a crime, but that alone.
BRAUN: One of the first things I did was an executive order reinforcing basically what Trump has said.
If you’re here, especially if you’ve committed a crime, on top of coming into the country illegally, they’re gonna find everyone. We’re gonna be a state that helps them do that.
Then the question comes up, well, what if you have not committed a crime? Well, you did when you came into the country illegally.
We’re gonna have our hands full with just doing the worst first.
HOST: Yes.
BRAUN: Because so many, when you look at 10 million plus, invited into the country by the Biden Administration, it’s gonna take a long time to get there.
HOST: Right.
BRAUN: I’m glad they’re doing it. We’re gonna be a state that reinforces it. Because until we secure the border, we cannot get any of the other reforms done, and that’s gonna be a big task.
HOST: We gotta leave it at that. Governor, thank you so much. Congratulations and best of luck with IDOGE, Indiana DOGE. It sounds like a great plan. Best of luck to you on that.