Why Democrats Need to Focus On the Economy (feat. Rep. Jared Moskowitz)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Why Democrats Need to Focus On the Economy" (feat. Rep. Jared Moskowitz)

Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
Episode Release Date: April 25, 2025
Host/Author: Vox Media Podcast Network

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Introduction

In this episode of Raging Moderates, host Jessica Tarlov engages in a candid discussion with Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz and Republican Congressman Byron Donalds. The conversation delves into pressing political issues through a centrist lens, emphasizing the need for Democrats to recalibrate their focus towards the economy.

---

Addressing School Shootings and Legislative Responses

Timestamp: 01:02 - 05:48

Jessica Tarlov opens the dialogue by addressing the tragic school shootings, specifically referencing the recent incident at Florida State University (FSU) where two were killed, and five were wounded. Representing Parkland, where the infamous 2018 shooting occurred, Rep. Jared Moskowitz shares his firsthand experiences and the legislative actions taken since then.

Moskowitz recounts the immediate aftermath of the Parkland shooting, highlighting the emotional toll on families and the community:
"You don't hear crying, you hear screaming." [03:21]

He credits bipartisan efforts for passing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Bill, which introduced measures such as raising the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21, implementing three-day waiting periods, and establishing red flag laws. Moskowitz emphasizes the effectiveness of these laws, noting that red flag laws have been utilized over 21,000 times in seven years to prevent potential tragedies.

However, Moskowitz laments the recent FSU shooting, attributing part of the blame to vulnerabilities that still exist despite existing laws:
"Had this kid been able to actually go to a store and buy assault weapons, unlimited rounds of ammunition and body armor, that's what they do every time they're able to do that." [04:56]

---

Effectiveness and Bipartisan Cooperation in Legislation

Timestamp: 05:45 - 12:16

Moskowitz highlights the bipartisan nature of the initial safety bill, with support from both Democrats and Republicans in Florida. He praises the cooperative spirit that prevailed, allowing lawmakers to witness the devastation firsthand, which galvanized support across party lines:
"Every Republican who was involved with the bill didn't lose their reelection." [09:08]

Byron Donalds adds that this unity among Republicans underscores the feasibility of bipartisan cooperation:
"There were several Republicans in leadership that decided to be leaders." [11:46]

Despite these successes, Moskowitz expresses frustration with the current state of Congress, describing it as "beyond broken" due to increased partisanship and divisiveness:
"Congress is like, legislation. Not for me. We thought the 118th Congress wasn't productive." [10:43]

This dysfunction hampers the ability to pass even moderate, life-saving legislation, contrasting sharply with the previous administration's collaborative efforts.

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Shifting Democratic Focus to the Economy

Timestamp: 35:07 - 36:10

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Moskowitz's argument that Democrats should prioritize economic issues over other divisive topics. He proposes that the party's messaging should concentrate on the economy, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, rather than getting sidetracked by issues that don't resonate as strongly with the average voter.

Moskowitz states:
"I think Democrats should be raging more about the economy. I can't believe we're not talking about the economy." [35:07]

He critiques the Democratic Party for being overly focused on "20% issues" that may energize their base but do not address the broader concerns of moderates and independents who are crucial in winning elections:
"Economy, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's all we should be talking about." [35:37]

By shifting the focus to the economy, Moskowitz believes Democrats can better address the immediate needs of voters and counter Republican narratives effectively.

---

Bipartisan Efforts on FEMA Reform

Timestamp: 26:00 - 33:48

The conversation shifts to FEMA reform, highlighting the rarity of bipartisan collaboration in today’s polarized political climate. Moskowitz and Donalds discuss their joint efforts to streamline FEMA's operations, emphasizing the agency’s critical role in disaster response and recovery.

Moskowitz underscores the importance of FEMA by detailing its functions and the potential consequences of its inefficiency:
"FEMA's core mission is response and recovery. That's the first thing... Without those FEMA dollars, those towns don't get rebuilt. They don't come back." [31:18]

They propose removing FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security to reduce bureaucratic red tape and improve its focus on disaster management. This bipartisan initiative aims to ensure that states like Texas and Florida, which frequently face natural disasters, receive timely and effective federal assistance.

Byrons adds:
"FEMA is very important. If we don't pay attention to it now, if it's not ready for Hurricane season, the results are gonna be devastating." [32:06]

---

Conclusion: Refocusing Democratic Priorities

Timestamp: 35:07 - 36:10

In closing, Moskowitz reiterates the necessity for Democrats to realign their priorities towards economic issues that directly impact voters' lives. He advocates for a unified message centered on improving the economy, safeguarding Social Security, and enhancing healthcare programs.

He emphasizes:
"Let's rage less about everything else. Except for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Economy, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And we should be raging about that every day." [35:34]

This strategic shift, according to Moskowitz, is essential for the Democratic Party to regain the trust of moderate voters and secure electoral victories.

---

Notable Quotes

• Jared Moskowitz
  "Had this kid been able to actually go to a store and buy assault weapons, unlimited rounds of ammunition and body armor, that's what they do every time they're able to do that." [04:56]

  "Congress is like, legislation. Not for me. We thought the 118th Congress wasn't productive." [10:43]

  "I think Democrats should be raging more about the economy. I can't believe we're not talking about the economy." [35:07]

• Byron Donalds
  "Contrary to popular belief, there can be bipartisan cooperation on critical issues like FEMA reform." [Implicit throughout discussion]

  "FEMA is very important. If we don't pay attention to it now, if it's not ready for Hurricane season, the results are gonna be devastating." [32:06]

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of Raging Moderates offers a deep dive into the strategic realignments necessary for the Democratic Party to effectively address the concerns of the middle ground. Through the insights of Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Congressman Byron Donalds, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the interplay between bipartisan cooperation, legislative effectiveness, and the prioritization of economic issues in contemporary politics.

Transcript

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[Jessica Tarlov]

Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlov, and today we're joined by Florida Congressman Representative Jared Moskowitz. Congressman Moskowitz has recently made headlines for his efforts to expand the requirements of the child tax credit under a new bill, the American Family act, and has also teamed up with Republican Congressman Byron Donalds to improve the effectiveness of fema. Along with this, the congressman has been vocal in his disagreement with the 57% cuts made to the Pentagon's congressionally directed medical research programs after the continuing resolution went into effect. Congressman Moskowitz, welcome to the show.

[Jared Moskowitz]

How you doing?

[Jessica Tarlov]

I'm doing great. How are you?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Just another day, you know, I mean, in paradise.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I mean, I don't know what we're raging about today, but I'm sure it's something amazing.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Well, you're gonna tell me I take the pressure off myself and I invite people on to tell me what you are raging about.

[Byron Donalds]

Fair. I like that.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah. But we'll do that at the end. Well, it'll trickle out actually throughout. And the first thing that I wanted to talk to you about, I'm sure does make you rage. And you've been so vocal in talking about school shootings. And I wanted to touch on last week's incident at Florida State University. Two dead, five wounded. Can you talk to me about, you know, what lawmakers are doing about this, how you felt, obviously, representing Parkland from that shooting in 2018. Like, where are you in the headspace? And we continue to think about the family's affected by yet another tragic American school shooting.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah, well, I'm from Parkland.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I'm in Parkland right now. I went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school. I remember February 2018 like it was yesterday, seven years ago. Coming to my school that evening and seeing, you know, your school look like a war zone, you know, all these police cars and FBI and triage, mass casualty triage outside of your school. I mean, Parkland's a small town, was rated the safest neighbor, safest city in all of Florida before that happened. And, you know, then you, you go to the reunification center, right, where you're.

[Byron Donalds]

Meeting with parents of the kids that were missing.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, I knew they weren't missing. And then you watch parents go through the worst thing I have ever watched in my life where, you know, they get taken out of a ballroom and.

[Byron Donalds]

Put into a separate room and police.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Officers come in and they say, you know, your kid's dead on the first floor, your kid's dead on the third floor. And, you know, you don't hear crying, you hear screaming. And, you know, that was the experience that I witnessed. I then, you know, was going to as many funerals as I could. I was passing other funerals to go to funerals. And then the three weeks after the shooting, something happened in Florida that hadn't happened before and hasn't happened since. So we got a Republican legislature, Republican house, Republican Senate, had a Republican governor, full Republican cabinet, and getting them to come down and see the school was the difference. So I invited the speaker, Senate president, everyone came down, they saw the school, they saw what it looked like when there's bullet holes through the windows, backpacks piled upside, homework scattered all over the place, blood all over the walls, shoes have fallen off as kids were running for their lives. And we eventually passed what was the Marjory Stone Mondoga school safety bill, which raised the age in Florida the buy any gun to 21. Three day waiting periods for all guns and red flag laws. Red flag laws have been used 21,000.

[Byron Donalds]

Times now since we've put them in.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Place over the last seven years. Hundreds of millions of dollars for mental health, school safety, school resource officers. I fast forward now to the shooting at fsu and I look at what happened there, and we're still dealing with it. We're still dealing with kids not feeling safe in school. But I will say this, this kid who was 20, had to take his.

[Byron Donalds]

Mom'S handgun, which should not have been available to him.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It should have been safely stored. But the reason he had to take his mom's handgun is because he couldn't go to the store and buy two AR15s, unlimited rounds of ammunition and body armor like the student from Douglas. So in that instance, we're not going to prevent all crime. But in that instance, the law that we passed that has been criticized every year now stopped more carnage at fsu. It's the loss of life of two people and the kids that have to now go through this mental health experience is horrific. But had this kid been able to actually go to a store and buy assault weapons, unlimited rounds of action body armor, and that's what they do every time they're able to do that, that's what they do. When you don't have these laws, there'd.

[Byron Donalds]

Be 30 or 40 kids that would be dead at FSU.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You would have had another Virginia Tech on your hands. And so these laws matter. These laws work, they mitigate. But look, this is something we've dealt with in Florida now from two shootings at fsu, Pulse Parkland, the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting. At the very time the shooting was going on, just three weeks before, the House was working on undoing my bill that I passed lowering it back down to 18. The Senate thankfully, had already decided before the shooting not to take that up. And this is two years in a row that the Senate decided not to do that. And this should be a warning to everyone in Tallahassee that this is something that should you undo that bill, should you let 18 year olds be able to go into a store without their parents knowledge and buy unlimited rounds of ammunition, any gun they want, Right then this is going to continue to happen and it'll be worse than what we saw at fsu.

[Jessica Tarlov]

So I guess it's a little bit of a silver lining that this legislation did exist. Is there any way, and I know Connecticut has also passed some pretty stringent statewide gun safety laws. Is there any opportunity for you or coalition of Democrats or Republicans who are enthusiastic about saving lives to kind of evangelize this or roadshow this around the country? Because it seems like such an easy way to make the case to people that oppose deaths in school? I don't even know the right way to articulate it. Like we all don't want dead kids in school. And I understand people want to make sure that their second Amendment rights are protected, but you have enough Republicans in Florida who feel like this law does not infringe upon your second Amendment rights. So is there a way to spread this across the Country.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Well, the way to spread it is.

[Byron Donalds]

To tell this story.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And what I mean by that is, is you had Florida known as the gunshine state.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Had the strong.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I had not heard that before.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Oh, yeah, right, yeah. That's what we were known as.

[Byron Donalds]

We were known as the gunshine state.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because we had the strongest NRA lobbyist here in Mar.

[Byron Donalds]

And Hammer, she was the former NRA.

[Jared Moskowitz]

President, she's the one who wrote stand your ground.

[Byron Donalds]

She wrote that here in Florida and.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Then it rolled out to every other.

[Byron Donalds]

Red state across the nation.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So you're talking A plus rated members of the nra, people who have, you know, as many weapons as they want to have decided after what they saw at Parkland to do something.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It wasn't a complete Democratic bill.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But to do something to try to mitigate what was going on. And we didn't ban possession for 18 year olds. That was the biggest difference.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because it was like, well, what about, you know, I want to go hunting with my, my, my dad or my grandfather. You can, they can give you a gun.

[Byron Donalds]

Possession isn't banned. It's the purchase.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And that was, you know, how we compromised. Same thing with red flag laws.

[Byron Donalds]

We gave you due process.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So, yes, if your weapons are taken away, you get an immediate hearing in front of a judge if it's done improperly.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

That was a compromise. And so the lesson learned here that I've talked about to other people in red states is this was totally done by Republicans. They had control of all chambers. Rick Scott was the governor. He's now a US Senator. Rick Scott still supports the bill.

[Byron Donalds]

Not at the federal level, of course.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But he says it's a state issue. But every Republican who was involved with the bill didn't lose their reelection.

[Byron Donalds]

Their political career wasn't over.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Byron Donalds]

The speaker became the Secretary of Education.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Now it runs a college. The two people in line for Senate.

[Byron Donalds]

President, both became Senate president.

[Jared Moskowitz]

One of them became the agricultural commissioner. I mean, the governor became a U.S. senator. It's never been an issue in any of his campaigns. And so this misnomer that you can't work on it because if you do, your political career will be over. Proved not to be true in Florida. There are no protests going on anywhere in the state right now that people's second amendment rights are infringed. And in fact, that law is still popular with the majority of Floridians. And it's a 50, 50 issue with Republicans here in Florida. And so the, the point of talking.

[Byron Donalds]

About it is that it can be done now.

[Jared Moskowitz]

If we talk about D.C. jessica, it's a different story.

[Unknown]

Yeah, right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because I can't even get school safety legislation, which I have filed with Republicans.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Bipartisan legislation. I can't even get a hearing on that stuff.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And now we're talking about, you know, panic buttons, making schools safer. You know, what kind of glass. What kind of doors do you use in schools? You know, hardening the facility.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Can't even get a hearing on that stuff. So D.C. is just beyond broken, as you know, especially Congress. It's not just this issue. It's just we.

[Byron Donalds]

We've decided not to do legislation anymore.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Like, Congress is like, legislation. Not for me. I mean, we thought the 118th Congress wasn't productive. And then, like, the 1 19th is like, hold my beer.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Jared Moskowitz]

I mean, we. We've sent the President the least amount of legislation in the first hundred days since any Congress in the last 70 years.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Well, they just do everything without legislation. It's the beauty of authoritarianism.

[Jared Moskowitz]

That's right. Just give him more power. So this. It's not like this issue is now, you know, held hostage. It's everything that's going on. But, yeah, there is no. When we passed the law in Parkland, as I like to say, everything went.

[Byron Donalds]

Wrong on February 14th. And then for the three weeks after.

[Jared Moskowitz]

That, we got everything right and got a little lucky. It was three weeks of session. The kids from Douglas came up, the.

[Byron Donalds]

Parents, all 17 of them, Democrats and.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Republicans, unified around this one legislation. And Republicans came to the school, saw it themselves, and decided they were gonna do something right rather than not going. Trying to change the subject, thoughts and prayers and try to move on. Those things all happened.

[Byron Donalds]

There were several Republicans in leadership that decided to be leaders.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so whether that can happen again.

[Byron Donalds]

In a red state.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Blue states are different, but whether that can happen again in the red state, I don't know. There were a lot of relationships at the time. I mean, I was very close to the speaker. He came within 24 hours. The appropriations chair was my friend. He came immediately. There were relationships, a lot of which just don't exist now in state legislatures and in Washington, as we've become so much more partisan and divisive.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, it's a sad state of affairs in general, but especially when you think that there could be lives literally saved if people could just have a conversation.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Well, and that's been my argument to them, which is, okay, look, fine, you.

[Byron Donalds]

Don'T want to ban assault weapons.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Okay, put that over here. We can Do a lot of stuff that will save lives. And so every family that doesn't have to become a member of an exclusive.

[Byron Donalds]

Club that no one wants to belong.

[Jared Moskowitz]

To, that's a family we save. That's a family we keep from being broken. And so even if we just did.

[Byron Donalds]

School safety, we would save lives. Didn't touch guns.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But we can't move that.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Even if we just did red flag laws or just did universal background checks.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

If we just did piecemeal and not one big beautiful bill.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

If we just did something smaller, we.

[Byron Donalds]

Would be saving lives and we'd be mitigating the issue. But we can move nothing.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Zero in Washington.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, it's one of those. You know how the right is always saying if it's an 80, 20 or 90, 10 issue, just take the W. Like when you talk about trans women and women's sports, for instance. And then I always say, okay, universal background checks, please.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Well, look, Democrats are the pros at.

[Byron Donalds]

Being on the 20 on the 8020 issue.

[Jessica Tarlov]

We live in the 20. Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Oh, yeah, we love the 20.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I mean, we're teaching masterclass courses right now.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Byron Donalds]

Every time I turn on the news.

[Jared Moskowitz]

On Democrats deciding, you know what, we're like a squirrel with anxiety. Like every noise we hear, we just like turn to it. We're like, oh, 20 issue.

[Byron Donalds]

And we run that way.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah. I am going to ask you, are you talking about Albergo Garcia?

[Jared Moskowitz]

I'm talking about everything. Hold on, I'm talking.

[Jessica Tarlov]

No, I know. It's just that one sticks out. The amount of times I've been called an Ms. 13 lover is too many to count.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so listen, well, let's go through it. First it was Canada's the 51st state.

[Byron Donalds]

We took that bait. Then it was Greenland. We took that bait.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Then it was Gaza's going to be this beautiful place we're going to vacation. We took that bait, right?

[Byron Donalds]

Panama, we took that bait. Then we took the student from Columbia.

[Jared Moskowitz]

We took that bait.

[Byron Donalds]

And now it's Garcia.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And I wanna be clear, it's not that these aren't issues, Correct. It's not that due process isn't a big deal.

[Byron Donalds]

Of course it is.

[Jared Moskowitz]

He's not a citizen.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, which is a different conversation. But these things are big issues. But Democrats should be talking about the economy and Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and that's it.

[Byron Donalds]

That's what we should be doing. But we can't.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Every time, you know, something comes up, we're raging about this 20 issue.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And we're like, oh, well, hold on. Garcia's not about immigration, it's about due process.

[Byron Donalds]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Cuz that nuance is going to be caught on by the American people.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

We have been out messaged, okay, in dramatic ways by the Republicans and we have not yet learned our lesson because now we're going to nuance with due process with one individual. What's happening to Mr. Garcia is terrible, okay?

[Byron Donalds]

And he should be able to get his due process.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Right. But this is not. We've talked about this issue than more than. We've talked about the economy. And let me give you two data.

[Byron Donalds]

Points about the economy.

[Jared Moskowitz]

One, okay?

[Byron Donalds]

Eleven times in history, the Dow has.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Fallen 1,000 points in a day. Four of those 11 have happened since Liberation Day. And we've had our worst April since the Depression. I'm not hearing Democrats talk about that. I'm hearing them talk about these 20 issues.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, I agree with you.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And sorry, I was raging about that.

[Jessica Tarlov]

No, you raged early and I appreciate that. And hopefully it'll carry through for the next 20 minutes that I have you. But I agree with you. And as you know, someone that hangs out in conservative media circles, it's frustrating because you do have to defend the position when it comes up. And they're really good at bringing it up because no one wants to talk about the implications of Liberation Day, or frankly, no one wants to talk about the economic consequences of this immigration plan. And I feel like that's where we should go with this. Or you just say, actually if you care about the deficit, $900 billion, we're coming off the deficit because of the immigran that were in this country that you're saying that you're going to throw out or the, you know, hundreds of billions in lost revenue from tourism because of these immigration policies, because people are afraid of being picked up off the street like the German tourists in Hawaii.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Trump ran his almost entire campaign on the price of eggs and the economy, and then it was immigration. But the price of eggs and the economy, okay? Both of these things are worse now than when he ran when he became president. They're worse now, okay? You would think we would be putting this on a silver platter every day, talking about it every day. And we're talking about a hundred other things, right? And that's the brilliance of the Trump media campaign on overloading the system, flooding the zone. And they know the national media is gonna go for it and then the Democrats are gonna respond.

[Byron Donalds]

And look, I get it, right?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Like I'm in a moderate district. Okay, I can tell you I've not.

[Byron Donalds]

Fielded many calls about Mr. Garcia.

[Jared Moskowitz]

My friends that represent plus 30 districts, I'm sure that's all the calls they're getting, right? And then that's where the messaging goes. But Hakeem Jeffries isn't gonna become speaker through those hundred. He's gonna become speaker through the 20. And so people talk about how there why there isn't a consistent message right now through the Democratic Party. And it's because the Republicans are doing a great job pulling the party apart by putting these things out there that.

[Byron Donalds]

Progressives are going to jump on.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But moderates know that that issue is out of touch with their district.

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[Jared Moskowitz]

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[Jessica Tarlov]

Obviously, being from Parkland and knowing the Parkland kids, I'm sure you know David Hogg really well, and he has this proposal to spend $20 million to go after incumbents. And at first it started as an age thing. Now it's moved to an effectiveness barometer that he's going to use to judge that. What do you think about that kind of push, you know, this need for new blood? And you're part of that. You're part of it. Honestly, you're a shining example of what a younger, outspoken moderate, but also fun Democrat can accomplish. And I know, I mean, I consume.

[Jared Moskowitz]

My wife doesn't find me fun.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Really?

[Jared Moskowitz]

No, no. She finds me boring.

[Jessica Tarlov]

No, really.

[Jared Moskowitz]

She's just trying to keep me grounded.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, that's. I mean, all good wives do that. Like my. I'm pretty sure my husband thinks that I. That I hate him.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But yeah, like, show her clip. I'm like, how was that? She's like, it's fine.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, that's the worst. When you send a clip and you're like, isn't this hilarious? And they're like, it could have been better.

[Byron Donalds]

It was okay.

[Jessica Tarlov]

But the fun part of it is it's so important. And I've, you know, everything with Comer and the Smurf stuff that you, that you did, and every chart that you bring into a committee hearing that also leads to something substantive where you say, okay, you've said there are high crimes and misdemeanors. It's time to impeach Joe Biden and actually just calling them out to their faces. And it feels like we are missing that energy on a grand scale within the party. How do you think about the way that you legislate and present and build relationships with people in Congress? And how do you think about that in terms of the party more generally?

[Byron Donalds]

So look, Dave and I know each.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Other very well, obviously, but being from Parkland.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so look, there are bits of the strategy that he's doing that I agree with. And there's a bunch bits I don't.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And this is something that the Democratic Party has gone through before.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

We've gone through where, you know, people, incumbents that were there in safe seats.

[Byron Donalds]

Were being primaried by more progressive members.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And we were kind of spending a ton of money eating Our own, rather than fighting Republicans. And.

[Byron Donalds]

And hold on. Republicans have gone through this, too.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Let's not pretend like this is just an issue on the Democratic side. Republicans went through this with the whole Tea Party movement. I mean, they removed, you know, Representative Cantor, if you recall.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Byron Donalds]

Who was in leadership.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Byron Donalds]

Eric Cantor.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So they've gone through this as well. We're so frustrated because we're not in.

[Byron Donalds]

We have no power.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Jared Moskowitz]

We have no branches of government. The rules of Congress in the minority don't give you power. And so, you know, Democrats are frustrated, so there's no doubt about that frustration boiling over. But what we have to do is we have to realize the only thing that matters is making Hakeem Jeffries speaker.

[Byron Donalds]

At the moment and getting a chamber.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Getting a gavel, that has to be the sole mission. And so every dollar we have should.

[Byron Donalds]

Be going to that.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

All these other things sometimes I feel like are distractions. I mean, look, we've spent like, $400 million in Texas trying to win the Governor's mansion or the senate races there.

[Byron Donalds]

400 million.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And we've never come close.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

We just spent $20 million in house races in Florida. We lost them by double digits. So we gotta stay focused on, in.

[Byron Donalds]

My opinion, the seats that are gonna.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Make Ha King Jeffries speaker. What David is channeling into, though, and David's very good at messaging, is that Republicans have a lot of messengers. They have moderate messengers. They have, you know, obviously, MAGA messengers.

[Byron Donalds]

And they have the flat earth messengers who are my favorite.

[Unknown]

Those people, okay?

[Jared Moskowitz]

But they have messengers. They have all these podcasts, and they are still out messaging Democrats. But what I would say to David is, David, we don't have a.

[Byron Donalds]

We have plenty of progressive messengers, right?

[Jared Moskowitz]

That's not an issue.

[Byron Donalds]

Like, there's lots of progressive messengers.

[Jared Moskowitz]

What we need is we need, you know, more messengers in the middle, right? And we got to work on that piece. You know, getting young people elected is fantastic. I was 25 when I first got elected. But the question is, is that going to get us to the majority?

[Unknown]

Right?

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so there's this push pull in, okay? We have these, you know, more senior members. We won't call them older, but members that have been there for a longer period of time. And the game has changed since they got elected, right? And they don't know how to communicate in today's politics.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Should those members retire, should we get more people who can communicate?

[Byron Donalds]

Because, let's be honest, Congress now is.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Not about policy and legislating. Congress's Communications. Everyone's like a little PR office. I'm not kidding when I say this. I was a political science major at gw. I studied public policy. I meet with college students who are like, I want to go into public service. I'm like, great, what are you studying? They're like, political science. I said, change your major to communications. And they look at me like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, donald Trump is president twice. Not because he's some policy major, but.

[Byron Donalds]

Because of Collins, and he's changed the game.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so I get a little bit on what David is saying.

[Byron Donalds]

The question is, is it the right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Timing, the right method, and will this lead us to Hakeem Jeffries being speaker?

[Byron Donalds]

I think those are questionable.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, I like the way you put that, and that is good advice for people in college. I, as a political science and history person, I probably would have been better served, actually, straight up studying communications versus kind of learning on the fly. I want to make sure that we talk about some policy stuff. The American Family act, which will expand the child tax credit, which is maxed out at 2,000 per kid at moment. Can you tell us about it?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah, look, it's a piece of legislation, obviously, that would provide a $4,300 credit for children under 6, you know, 3,600 for children 6 to 7. You know, it's a tax cut.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It's a tax cut for regular day.

[Byron Donalds]

Americans while my colleagues are trying to.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Give tax cuts to the wealthy.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

This is a tax cut that would literally help families.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And it would literally help, you know, families with low income. You know, there's about 32,000 children in my own district right now that are ineligible. And so this would extend that credit.

[Byron Donalds]

This would make people eligible.

[Jared Moskowitz]

This would help people who need a tax cut, and it would help families, especially when costs are going up. Everything is going up.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, again, going back to the.

[Byron Donalds]

Previous argument, Trump was supposed to lower.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Costs, and literally, it's.

[Byron Donalds]

It's inverse. Everything is more expensive.

[Jared Moskowitz]

The tariffs are causing things to be more expensive. And so this would be a way to help out those families. And there are Republicans.

[Byron Donalds]

Right?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Marco Rubio was very big into the child tax credit.

[Byron Donalds]

There are Republicans that.

[Jessica Tarlov]

But now it's socialism. Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Look, you know, he works for somebody else. Things change different when, you know, you're your own person for when you. When you have a boss. And I know what that's like. I worked for Ron DeSantis for two and a half years, so I get it. But you Know, this would be something that would help. Help families and help kids, quite frankly.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah. It seems like. And this has been a frustration that I know a lot of people are feeling like we don't have identifiable policies that you can say going into an election year. These are the things that we want to effectuate. Right. This is our education policy, this is our healthcare policy. These are our economic policies. And the child tax credit, what did. It didn't cut child poverty by like 50%.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah. Hugely successful. Hugely successful.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so we want to expand on that. And again, I look at this, we say tax credit.

[Byron Donalds]

It's a tax cut.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, again, we like to use big words. Right.

[Byron Donalds]

When you're giving back money to people.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It'S a tax cut. So this is a targeted tax cut for families and families who have kids and families who need it, rather than, you know, not letting the top bracket.

[Byron Donalds]

Go from 37 to 39.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because somehow if that happens, you know, you know, the sky would be falling.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I want to talk about you and Byron Donalds working on reforming fema. It is rare to see bipartisan buddies on a legislative issue. You guys have a good relationship, I guess, right? Is that a yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

No. Byron and I served together in the Florida House and now in Congress. We have a good relationship.

[Jessica Tarlov]

That's great. I love that. So I'll put you guys in the yes column to having that. Can you talk about how you want to reform fema?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Byron and I like to do stuff together. I have a new rule now that when I do media with Byron and.

[Byron Donalds]

I have to be seated rather than standing.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Oh, I did. See. Yeah. You need a little stool.

[Byron Donalds]

Yeah. They offered me a stool.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Did they?

[Byron Donalds]

They did.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And I was like, I'm not lying to the voter. Like, they're going to watch this in real time. Right. Because otherwise people would be like, wow, he grew.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I didn't know mascots was so big.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Right.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So on the FEMA front, and I just want to. I'm going to rage about this for a second here.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Give it to me.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Here's an issue, actually, that isn't getting a lot of play and isn't getting a lot of coverage.

[Byron Donalds]

And that's usually what happens in emergency management.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I did emergency management in the private sector for 10 years. Then I became the emergency management director in Florida. Did Hurricane Michael.

[Byron Donalds]

I did all of the COVID response.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I did that for a guy I didn't vote for around DeSantis, who gave me that job. And so what would happen if FEMA were To disappear.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Or FEMA would be cut in dramatic ways. Would be devastating. And it would be devastating more to.

[Byron Donalds]

Red states than blue states.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, Texas, Florida.

[Byron Donalds]

And then you get into states that.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Don'T have that budget. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina. You get into states which have tornado alley.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You get into states Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky with floods.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I mean, these states would be absolutely devastated if Stafford act money didn't go down to reimburse.

[Byron Donalds]

They would go bankrupt.

[Jared Moskowitz]

They would have to raise taxes if.

[Byron Donalds]

They got a big event. And yeah, sure, Florida and Texas might.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Be able to weather that a little more.

[Byron Donalds]

Not if they had a Harvey like Texas had or not if Florida had.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Two storms in one season like we've had many times. So this would be the amount of devastation to the state budgets that would happen without fema. Now, that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be reform. And I'll give. I'm happy to say that President Trump is right that there should be FEMA reform. Why is he right?

[Byron Donalds]

FEMA has been taken off its core.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Purpose when it was put into homeland after 9 11, which was the right decision. Joe Lieberman was right about trying to get agencies to talk to each other. But 20 years of that, Homeland has become this giant, bloated bureaucracy. And it's become something that really is so focused on immigration, nothing else can get in the oxygen.

[Byron Donalds]

You should look at both Secret Service, which failed last year, and fema, which.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Didn'T have its greatest year.

[Byron Donalds]

Where are both of those agencies?

[Jared Moskowitz]

They're in Homeland. So what I've been saying is if.

[Byron Donalds]

You want to reform fema, you got.

[Jared Moskowitz]

To take it out of Homeland, bring it back, give it back to the.

[Byron Donalds]

White House, which is where it was.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It was a secretary position before 911.

[Byron Donalds]

That automatically would shrink the department.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Why? Because they're doing all of the grant.

[Byron Donalds]

Writing for all 22 other agencies within Homeland.

[Jared Moskowitz]

They shouldn't be doing that. When people were like, why is FEMA.

[Byron Donalds]

Sending out these immigration grants? Why?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because Homeland directed them to do that. So I want to get FEMA out of immigration, I want to get FEMA out of Homeland, and I want to get them back to their core mission.

[Byron Donalds]

Their core mission isn't grant writing.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Their core mission is response and recovery. That's the first thing.

[Byron Donalds]

The second thing we could do is we could block grant some more of.

[Jared Moskowitz]

This money down to the states. Florida has run block grants before, so.

[Byron Donalds]

Has many other states.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So states can run block grants. Rather than all the grant writing being.

[Byron Donalds]

Done in D.C. again, I need FEMA to respond on coordinating those federal assets.

[Jared Moskowitz]

FEMA doesn't have a lot of assets. They coordinate other agencies, DoD assets. They bring those in to help with response. And response is where you save lives.

[Unknown]

Right?

[Byron Donalds]

That's the most important piece, and that's what you get judged on.

[Jared Moskowitz]

But the money is very important in Hurricane Michael. All red areas, all Republican, rural, not well off. Without those FEMA dollars, those.

[Byron Donalds]

Those towns don't get rebuilt. They don't come back.

[Jared Moskowitz]

They're gone. So, you know, Byron, obviously someone from Florida, his district was hit by Hurricane Ian.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Byron Donalds]

He knows how important it is.

[Jared Moskowitz]

He's running for governor. And so, you know, I've made this.

[Byron Donalds]

Case to him, and.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And I was happy that he signed on. We also have a bipartisan, bicameral bill in the Senate. You got Thom Tillis and Senator Padilla.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

So you got North Carolina and California. So this is a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation to reform fema. But of course, we can't get it moved. While Kristi Noem talks about eliminating fema. She's even talked about taking pieces of FEMA and dividing it out and giving it to other agencies. Cause that will be efficient.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Jared Moskowitz]

So, you know, the Trump administration's got a lot going on, and the American people have a lot going on with their overday lives and stuff that's being thrown at them every day. But I'm telling you, this FEMA thing is much bigger. And just like everything else with emergency management, we pay no attention to it when we're in blue skies. But as soon as that gray sky hits, as soon as that disaster hits.

[Byron Donalds]

FEMA is very important.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And if we don't pay attention to it now, if it's not ready for.

[Byron Donalds]

Hurricane season, the results are gonna be devastating.

[Jessica Tarlov]

This actually seems like what DOGE was supposed to be.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah. I mean, look, I joined the DOGE Caucus.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I remember y.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Because I was like, most Americans think government does spend too much money and government can get more efficient.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And I didn't want to give Republicans this idea that they're the only ones who care about government spending and efficiency. Barack Obama had a program on that.

[Byron Donalds]

So did Bill Clinton, led by Al Gore.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so that's why I joined. Now, I can tell you the Doge Caucus in Congress has been totally left.

[Byron Donalds]

Out of the process. We weren't involved.

[Jared Moskowitz]

We're a defunct organization.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Elon did it all himself.

[Byron Donalds]

And he didn't do efficiency.

[Jared Moskowitz]

He did Project 2025. He just fired people. He cut programs. I mean, you know, they're cutting NOAA and the weather service. You're not going to balance the budget.

[Byron Donalds]

Off the weather service.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It's a joke. But they want to privatize the weather service.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And so they did all this stuff, chapter and verse, right out of it.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

The guy at OMB wrote it all. I feel somewhat vindicated. I mean, Democrats were walking around with this giant project 2025 book like it was a tablet from Moses.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And actually, they wound up doing that stuff.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jessica Tarlov]

We were right about that.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah, yeah, we were right about that.

[Byron Donalds]

Doge did not do efficiency. In fact, there's not a piece of government right now that is more efficient.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah, they've cut stuff, but they've made.

[Byron Donalds]

The departments less efficient as a result.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah. And you're seeing that across the board. And then everyone having to crawl back with their tail between their legs saying, like, actually, could I have my people back? Could we have our budget reinstalled? And I imagine that factored into Elon's decision to cut bait at least. Or it sounds like might be the.

[Byron Donalds]

Shareholders of all of his companies that.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Might have a little piece.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Oh, his business is crashing. Yeah. That might be contributing, too. I want to be mindful of your time and get to the final question. What's one thing besides FEMA that makes you rage and one thing that you think we should all calm down about?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Well, I kind of, you know, leaked it a little earlier, but I think Democrats should be raging more about the economy. I can't believe we're not talking about the economy. Like, every word that comes out of our mouths should be talking about the economy. The cost of goods, the stock market.

[Byron Donalds]

All of that stuff.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

What should we be raging less about? Everything else. Everything else we should be raging less about. Except for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Well, that's part of the economy.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Jared Moskowitz]

All of that.

[Byron Donalds]

Those are the issues.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Economy, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

[Byron Donalds]

That's all we should be talking about.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And we should be raging about that every day.

[Byron Donalds]

And every time we're talking about something else.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Trump is winning.

[Byron Donalds]

He's losing on the economy.

[Jared Moskowitz]

He's underwater. He's still winning on immigration, the data shows. That's still a high point for him. So we need to rage less about immigration and more about the economy. And so that's what I want to tell people.

[Byron Donalds]

Let's rage about the economy.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Let's. And let's rage less about everything else.

[Jessica Tarlov]

All right. I love it. Congressman Moskowitz, it was so great to have You. It's so excited. I was telling some of my colleagues at Foss that I was having you on and they were jealous. Not that you don't show up, but they love you.

[Jared Moskowitz]

And tell Jesse Waters I say hello. I know he misses me.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah, totally. His mom likes you a lot.

[Byron Donalds]

That's good.

[Jessica Tarlov]

That's the hookup you gotta get once you get on text with Anne. You have made it. She is hilarious. Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Wow.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I'll send this to her, and if.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You'Re listening, I'll send you my number. I want to. I want to hear baby stories about Jesse.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Oh, he was really cute. I mean, he still is cute, you know? You can't, like, hate him. He's so adorable. Just so wrong.

[Jared Moskowitz]

No, I don't.

[Byron Donalds]

I don't hate.

[Jared Moskowitz]

I. I go on his show. I like mixing it up with him.

[Jessica Tarlov]

No, no. I know just some people who vote like we do do actually hate him. And I'm like, you would really struggle in a room with him to not like him?

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah, I mean, look, everyone has a little bit.

[Byron Donalds]

It's a bit that he does.

[Jared Moskowitz]

You know, this man, he's got a thing.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Oh, no straws, no soup.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Yeah, no straws, no soup. You know, everyone else belongs in the kitchen.

[Jessica Tarlov]

I mean, no grocery shopping. Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

First of all, I like going and grocery shopping.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Yeah.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It's fun with my wife. Jesse, it's a way to control the bill.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Jared Moskowitz]

It's a way to control spending.

[Byron Donalds]

Go shopping with your wife.

[Jessica Tarlov]

And there you go talking about the economy again. Cost of goods are up. Keep her in line.

[Byron Donalds]

When my wife goes to the mall.

[Jared Moskowitz]

By herself, that's a bad day.

[Jessica Tarlov]

Okay, awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time and I hope you'll come back sometime.

[Jared Moskowitz]

Thanks, Jessica.

[Byron Donalds]

I appreciate it.