January 20th, 2025 marks the Inauguration Day for President Donald Trump (R). Upon taking office, the president-elect has already suggested that big changes are coming not only for the government but for the country as well. The suggestions have been divisive, drawing praise from Republicans and disdain from Democrats. However, Democrats are now suggesting changes of their own. Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) is calling for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to investigate changes in the Department of Homeland Security.
In what could be the first bid of bipartisanship between DOGE and the Democratic Party, Rep. Moskowitz is calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to look into the DHS.
Today, the House Oversight Committee held an often tense meeting regarding the recent controversy with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The agency has been at the center of controversy after a senior official was fired over an alleged policy involving supporters of President Trump not receiving assistance.
The Dept. of Homeland Security is very necessary but has simply gotten too big & is a bureaucratic mess. It’s time to break up parts of DHS. Let’s start by removing @SecretService and @fema & have them report directly to WH.#DOGE should look at this @elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy pic.twitter.com/T8k4Sl3NYo
— Congressman Jared Moskowitz (@RepMoskowitz) November 19, 2024
During the meeting, Rep. Moskowitz posited that issues with FEMA go back to the DHS, considering that the Department is in charge of both FEMA and the Secret Service, which he argued also requires restructuring. Because of this, he called on both Musk and Ramaswamy to look into the DHS, arguing that the Secret Service and FEMA should instead report to the White House.
In his comments regarding FEMA, Rep. Moskowitz explained that "bureaucracy" has negatively affected FEMA. "Homeland won't let them [act] because there's 30 people around the table trying to figure out what to do in the agency," Rep. Moskowitz frustratingly expressed.
"If you think there are issues in FEMA that you want to fix, I'm letting you know, these issues go back to [DHS]," he added.
Since being announced, DOGE has expressed an interest in launching investigations into agencies like the Internal Review Service and the Department of Education.
