WASHINGTON—Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) became the first Democrat to join the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus, which will bolster President-elect Donald Trump's DOGE led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In comments to The Floridian, Rep. Moskowitz said that while disagreements will exist, such as eliminating whole government agencies, Democrats should nonetheless support the overall goal of the incoming administration's efforts to make the government more efficient.
"I joined specifically because, for years, I have been fighting to get [the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)] out of Homeland [Security]. I support the Department of Homeland Security. It was a great idea when [Senator Joe] Liberman (D-CT) helped form it, but it has become too big. It is 22 agencies, and so I think FEMA needs to be a direct report to the President like it was when it was created," said the Florida Congressman.
Additionally, he suggested the Secret Service should report directly to the White House as well, particularly in the wake of two assassination attempts on Trump on the campaign trail.
"I joined the caucus because there are where the conversations are going to be happening. Why not have a seat at the table? I am sure they are going to have ideas that I am going to disagree with; that is okay, right? But there are ideas that I have about reforming the government as well. I do not think that there is a single American in the country who thinks government is perfect, so Democrats should not fear the conversation. In fact, we should run into the conversation where there is agreement," Moskowitz continued.
While skeptical of DOGE's claims of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget, the Florida Congressman nevertheless agreed that wasteful spending exists and that "whatever we save, we save."
"And so I think that it should be a bipartisan effort to do that, and then where there is disagreement, we should have that fight," he added.
When asked where he would like to see government waste cut, Rep. Moskowitz replied, "I have no problem in basically sitting down and auditing the agencies. I mean, there have got to be programs that we funded 20, 30 years ago that might be eliminated because they are not as effective as they used to be. There might be a more effective way of doing it. Government is also deficient in technology, and so there are probably ways to bring technology into government that might make it more efficient and save money long-term."
Moskowitz also spoke against delegating more rulemaking powers to the presidency because "that is [Congress's] function. I do not care who is doing it, Democrats or Republicans. That is our function. And so I think one of the reasons the executive branch has been able to grow is because Congress has let it happen. They are doing all of the rulemaking because we do not want to do any law-passing."
Moskowitz pointed to recent comments from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), saying that "there are going to be more Democrats that come out on issues where there is agreement. I mean, we should vote for the idea. So look, Elon and Vivek are very smart guys. I am sure there are many things they are going to come up with that I am going to disagree with, but if they come up with a good idea that makes sense for the American people, we should have the conversation to vote for it."
"An idea has to win, no matter who comes up with it," Moskowitz concluded.
