Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary defended the Department of Government Efficiency and recommended it cut even more than it already has.
O’Leary’s recommendation comes as the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was cutting $660 million for the Local Food for Schools program and $420 million for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said these programs that sourced food directly from farmers to schools were “not necessary.”
“This issue is not going to go away because it’s very contentious, but when you cut in any organization, government or private, it’s very demoralizing. It’s traumatic, and it gets lots of bad press as we’re doing right now. But that’s why you cut 20% more,” O’Leary said on CNN NewsNight Tuesday. “I think Elon is not cutting enough. Cut 20% more. Now get your spreadsheet out. These are the names. Whack everybody and then 20% more, as we do in the private sector every day and have done for 100 years in private equity.”
Fellow panelists disagreed with O’Leary and criticized cuts from schools. Host Abby Phillip asked O’Leary why DOGE wouldn’t focus on cuts in some other sector.
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“You can criticize where it goes first. They’re going to focus their laser on every sector, and it’s going to keep going, and it’s going to remain contentious,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary has also publicly supported tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump. The Canadian investor has become increasingly political as the political world has recently collided with business. He started his own venture capital firm, O’Leary Ventures, last year, over 15 years after his first appearance on Shark Tank where he decides what small businesses to invest in.