Florida’s Byron Donald and Jared Moskovitz have plans to reform federal emergency management and improve the efficiency of federal emergency response efforts.
They will remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, making it an independent agency with a cabinet rank that reports directly to the President.
Their law, released this week, is just two months away from the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, as FEMA’s overall future and role are uncertain.
President Donald Trump said that responding to emergencies should be a nation far more than federal responsibility. “I want to see the state take care of the disaster,” he said in January. “Let the nation take care of tornadoes and hurricanes and everything else that happens.”
FEMA won conservative rage last year after reports that Florida workers were instructed to bypass their homes with Trump signs during the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Workers accused of submitting the order were fired.
Several national news organizations, including CNN, Politico’s E&E News and the Washington Post, reported this week that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Adict FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton and others met to discuss the demolition of the agency.
CNN cited “multiple sources familiar with meetings,” and the post cited “four people familiar with lectures.” The post stated that the goal would “seldom eliminate the role of agencies in disaster recovery by October 1st.”
In an Atlantic Council analysis, political, economic and safe think tanks said Trump’s abolishing FEMA would be “cruel irony.” He said it was “highly likely to hurt the worst in states that supported Trump, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Carolina.”
Donald and Moskowitz advocate for a different approach.
They are proposing the FEMA Independence Act, which will take FEMA away from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency.
Another provision requires leaders of agencies eligible for Senate confirmation to have “proven capabilities and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” across the public and private sectors.
One person who met that explanation: Moskovitz.
In the public sector, Moscowitz was the director of the Florida Emergency Management for most of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ first term, and was widely seen as being widely effective in his role. He was at the forefront of the state’s response to the community’s pandemic, turning his social media handle into “Jared Muscowitz” at the height of the crisis.
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In the private sector, Moscowitz was the general advisor to Aschublit, a national disaster response company based in Deerfield Beach.
In December, his name was a potential Trump Pick as director of FEMA, but Moskowitz ruled it out and said he was seeking a third term in 2026 at a home representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Moskowitz is serving his second term in Parliament, and in 2023 introduced the FEMA Independence Act, which failed.
“As the first Director of Emergency Management ever elected to Congress, I have seen firsthand the challenges of preparing, responding and recovery for disaster events. As these emergencies continue to grow larger and broader, the American people deserve an efficient and fast federal response. “Currently, FEMA is under the Department of Homeland Security bureaucracy,” he said Homeland Security has “been too big and too late to oversee what needs to be a quick and flexible emergency response.”
Moskowitz said focusing agencies on responding before, during and after a disaster will improve efficiency and save lives.
Donald, who served his third term in the House, has announced that he will hold a 2026 Republican nomination for the governor, with Trump’s support, and will begin running at the rally on Friday evening.
“FEMA has required a significant change to be overly bureaucratic, overly political, overly helpless, to best serve the American people,” Donald said in a statement. “In the event of a disaster, prompt and effective action must be the norm. It is no exception. It is essential that FEMA is removed from the bureaucratic maze of the DHS and designated instead to report directly to the President.”
This measure is to bring FEMA back to its roots. When it was launched in 1979, it was an independent institution.
On September 11, 2001, after the terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security was sewn together between various federal agencies. It currently includes 20 agencies that deal with law enforcement, disasters, border protection and civil defense.
