Message from Congressman Jared Moskowitz

Last night [March 11] House Republicans passed a government funding bill that fails to protect the programs American families depend on and fails to deliver the lower costs they’re counting on. I voted no—and I wanted to tell you why.

This bill threatens to cut funding from a whole host of critical government programs—everything from healthcare and nutritional assistance to veterans benefits and disaster relief. It slashes resources from care for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances, and it risks throwing thousands of seniors, veterans, and individuals living with disabilities out of their homes. Cuts like these quite simply do not help Florida families.

And that’s just the start—what’s not in the bill is just as important.

This bill does not have the necessary guardrails to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. In our district alone, more than 80,000 Floridians depend on Medicare, and nearly 160,000 use Social Security to pay rent, get around, and put food on the table. More than 100,000 Floridians in our district depend on Medicaid for their healthcare, including seniors, children, and individuals living with disabilities, and this bill puts their coverage at risk.

I’ve always stood up for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and I wasn’t going to let the threats to these programs go unchecked—so I took action.

Earlier this week, I filed an amendment to emphasize that this bill could not allow the Administration to make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. It was a straightforward, commonsense move to ensure that Floridians could continue to access these critical lifelines—but Republicans in the House majority blocked it from taking effect.

As long as I’m representing Broward and Palm Beach Counties, I’ll never support threats to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other earned benefit programs. Too many seniors and working families depend on them to access healthcare and put food on the table, and it’s critical that we stand united with these Floridians behind the programs they rely on.

So while this bill wasn’t close to what it should be for our working families, I’m going to keep fighting for the policies that WILL support hard-working Floridians—efforts like my bills to expand the Child Tax Credit, improve seniors’ access to hearing aids, and lower the sky-high cost of insurance for homeowners. These are commonsense proposals that will make a real difference for seniors and working families—and these are the sorts of proposals that Congress should be focused on.

Jared Moskowitz is now a dedicated representative to the constituents of Florida’s 23rd Congressional District.