The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is at the center of one of the most significant federal restructuring debates in years. A new bipartisan bill, introduced in May, is pushing to permanently remove the U.S. Secret Service from DHS and transfer the agency directly under the Executive Office of the President — a move that supporters say is long overdue.
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What Is the Bipartisan Bill and Who Is Behind It?
Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Russell Fry (R-S.C.) are co-leading the Secret Service Transfer Act, legislation that would formally move the United States Secret Service out of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and place it directly under the Executive Office of the President. The bill was introduced on May 7 and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security for consideration.
This is not an isolated proposal. The Secret Service Transfer Act is part of a broader bipartisan legislative package unveiled by Rep. Moskowitz to fundamentally restructure the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The full package includes three major reforms:
- Moving the Secret Service to the Executive Office of the President
- Making FEMA an independent, Cabinet-level agency reporting directly to the President
- Transferring the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the Department of Transportation
Rep. Moskowitz is partnering with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) on the FEMA Independence Act and co-leading the TSA transfer bill with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).
Why Now? The Security Incidents Driving the Push
The timing of this legislation is no accident. The bipartisan push comes in the direct aftermath of several alarming security incidents that have placed the U.S. Secret Service and the broader DHS structure under intense national scrutiny.
President Trump faced two separate assassination attempts during 2024 — the first at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, and the second at his golf club in Palm Beach, Florida, in September. Then, in April, a shooting incident occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where federal prosecutors allege that Trump and his administration were the intended targets. Secret Service agents responded and safely evacuated the president and his Cabinet from the scene; one agent who was struck in his bulletproof vest was uninjured.
Rep. Moskowitz, who was personally present at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, said the incident reinforced his conviction that the Secret Service must become directly accountable to the president. Rep. Fry echoed this urgency, arguing that the agency 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.”
The Core Argument: DHS Has Grown Too Big
At the heart of this debate is a structural criticism that has been building for years: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has simply grown too large and too bureaucratic to effectively manage such a critical protective agency.
The Secret Service currently makes up just 3% of DHS’s organizational budget of more than $100 billion. The agency originally operated under the Department of the Treasury before being moved under DHS jurisdiction in 2003 — a decision that many lawmakers now argue was a mistake.
“DHS has simply grown too big and too vulnerable to political dysfunction,” Rep. Moskowitz stated. “When a department becomes this massive, the mission gets lost. Secret Service needs help and under the current DHS bureaucracy, that reform is never going to happen.”
As the only former Director of Emergency Management in Congress and a member of the bipartisan task force investigating the first Trump assassination attempt, Moskowitz has had a firsthand view of how DHS’s bureaucratic structure can impede the ability of its subagencies to function. “We have to realize a 22-agency department cannot function efficiently,” he said.
The DHS Funding Crisis That Added Fuel to the Fire
The reform push also comes on the heels of a record-breaking DHS funding lapse. The department endured a 76-day government funding shutdown that concluded only in late April, leaving critical agencies in limbo for months. During that period, over 1,000 TSA agents quit, resulting in long security lines at major airports and a spike in missed flights across the country.
President Trump did sign a bill to fund most DHS agencies — including the Secret Service, TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard — through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, but the bill notably excluded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, which were previously funded under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Supporters of the restructuring argue that if the Secret Service Transfer Act, the FEMA Independence Act, and the TSA Transfer Act were signed into law, all three agencies would be effectively shielded from any future prolonged DHS funding crisis.
What Would Change Under the New Structure?
Under the proposed legislation, the Secret Service would be established within the Executive Office of the President, giving the agency a direct line of accountability to the White House rather than flowing through the DHS chain of command.
“Moving the Secret Service to the White House allows the organization to uphold its mission while simultaneously giving them more direct accountability to the President of the United States,” Rep. Fry said.
FEMA, under the companion FEMA Independence Act, would become a Cabinet-level agency within the Executive Branch. Its director would still be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and the legislation would require that FEMA’s confirmed leader possess “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” across both the public and private sectors.
For TSA, the logic follows an infrastructure alignment argument. Rep. Burchett pointed out that since the Department of Transportation already oversees air travel through the FAA, it makes operational sense for airport security personnel to fall under the same umbrella. “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 explained.
Bipartisan Support and the Road Ahead
The legislation has drawn support from both sides of the aisle, but it still faces a long road through Congress. As of its introduction on May 7, the Secret Service Transfer Act (HB8702) is currently at approximately 25% progression, pending review by the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Homeland Security.
Some lawmakers remain cautious. Rep. Lou Correa, a member of the bipartisan task force and the House Homeland Security Committee, noted that there are over 30 reform recommendations already in progress. “The devil’s going to be in the details,” he said, while acknowledging he remains open to the idea depending on how the final bill is shaped.
Still, the bipartisan coalition backing the package signals that appetite for structural reform within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is real and growing — on both sides of the political aisle.
Why This Matters for the Future of Homeland Security
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was created after the September 11 attacks as a consolidation effort, bringing dozens of federal agencies under one roof for the sake of coordination. But more than two decades later, critics argue that consolidation has become a liability — creating a bureaucratic machine so large that individual agency missions can get buried under layers of competing priorities and political dysfunction.
If this bipartisan package advances, it would represent the most significant restructuring of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security since the department’s creation in 2002. Whether Congress moves quickly enough to pass it — and whether the White House signals support — remains the central question in the weeks and months ahead.
What do you think — should the Secret Service be removed from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, and follow us for the latest updates as this bill moves through Congress.
