FIRST ON FOX: A pair of House lawmakers are seeking a major change to the Secret Service after heightened scrutiny following the third assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in April.
Reps. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and Russell Fry, R-S.C., introduced legislation Thursday that would transfer the Secret Service from DHS supervision and make the agency a direct report to the White House.
The measure is part of a broader package of bipartisan reforms that Moskowitz, a former emergency management director, is unveiling to reform the sprawling department that has come under frequent criticism for bureaucratic dysfunction. His legislative package would also make FEMA an independent cabinet-level agency and move TSA under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation.
The goal, Moskowitz said, is to cut red tape at DHS that impedes its subagencies’ ability to function — an observation he saw up close as a member of the congressional task force investigating the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa.
“Going to Butler, talking to Secret Service, is when I realized, well, the Secret Service is suffering the same problems that FEMA is suffering,” Moskowitz said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Because they were such a small agency, they couldn’t get the resources they needed. They couldn’t get decisions being made.”
“These pieces of legislation would streamline all three of those agencies,” Moskowitz added. “It would cut a lot of the bureaucracy we’re getting at DHS.”
Moskowitz, who was present at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where the Secret Service subdued the alleged shooter, said the assassination scare reinforced the need to make the agency directly accountable to the president and provide agents with “more resources, not less.”
Fry, who is co-leading the bill, said the measure would better allow the Secret Service to fulfill its responsibility of protecting the president.
“In a time where political attacks are becoming increasingly rampant, the Secret Service should be able to focus solely on its mission of protecting top U.S. officials — not dealing with bureaucratic tape that ultimately serves as a distraction to keeping the president safe,” Fry said.
Moskowitz’s DHS reform package comes after the embattled department endured a record-breaking funding lapse that concluded in late April after lasting for 76 days. The Florida lawmaker repeatedly joined Democrats against full-year DHS spending bills, but supported funding the department’s non-immigration functions.
If Moskowitz’s reform package was signed into law, the TSA, Secret Service and FEMA would likely be shielded from another prolonged DHS funding lapse.
More than 1,000 TSA agents quit during the shutdown, leading to long security lines at major airports and a spike in missed flights for passengers.
“I don’t think the American people should have their lives interrupted at the airport because of the dysfunction in Washington,” Moskowitz told Fox News Digital.
He also argued that TSA would function better if it was transferred out of DHS.
“The idea that the Department of Transportation, they have the FAA that keeps our skies safe, but then Homeland keeps the people safe in the airport … we should put things under one roof,” Moskowitz said. “I’m trying to unify keeping people safe in the air and safe on the ground when flying.”
Moskowitz’s previous efforts to make FEMA a cabinet-level agency have stalled in committee.
The Florida lawmaker, however, said he has talked with members of the Trump administration about reforms to DHS and believes there is extensive bipartisan support for overhauling the department.
“The question is, are we able to function and actually do something like this anymore?” Moskowitz said. “Or are we just only able to fund the agencies now and can’t do any reform?”
Moskowitz is partnering with Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., on the FEMA reform measure and co-leading the TSA transfer bill with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
He told Fox News Digital that he is planning to seek re-election in the new GOP-leaning 25th Congressional District, following Florida Republicans passing an aggressive gerrymandered map that carved up his Democratic seat last week.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the DHS before publication.
