Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., announced on Tuesday that he would be joining the House of Representatives’ DOGE Caucus, becoming the first Democrat in the now-biparisan group.
He advocated for removing the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) from the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), something floated by several Republican lawmakers months ago.
‘Today I will join the Congressional DOGE Caucus, because I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue,’ Moskowitz said in a statement.
The DOGE Caucus, standing for Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency, was launched by Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Aaron Bean, R-Fla., soon after President-elect Donald Trump announced a DOGE advisory panel to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
‘I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people. Specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, while very necessary, has gotten too big,’ Moskowitz said.
He suggested USSS, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), should become ‘independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House.’
‘It’s not practical to have 22 agencies under this one department. I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner with my colleagues to remove FEMA and Secret Service from DHS,’ Moskowitz said.
It is a particularly notable position for the Florida Democrat to take, considering his deep familiarity with both agencies.
Before coming to Congress, Moskowitz served as Florida’s director of Emergency Management under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. He has also previously pushed to decouple FEMA from DHS alongside Rep. Garret Graves, R-La.
As a lawmaker, he is also a member of the bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump.
The DOGE Caucus is one of several overtures by House Republicans to get in step with Musk and Ramaswamy’s new mission.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., recently announced the next Congress would see a special subcommittee on government efficiency led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.