Moskowitz, Gonzales Relaunch Bipartisan School Safety & Security Caucus
Washington, DC
WASHINGTON, DC — Congressmen Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-23) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23) this week announced the relaunch of the Congressional Bipartisan School Safety & Security Caucus for the 119th Congress. Founded in 2023 by Co-Chairs Moskowitz and Gonzales, the Caucus brings members of Congress together with educators, law enforcement personnel, school safety experts, and parents to foster safer classrooms for children across the United States.
“The 2018 shooting at my alma mater, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, completely shattered my hometown of Parkland. I’ll never forget hearing families say as they buried their kids that the only thing they did wrong that day was send them to school. That’s an indictment of our government’s failure to protect our students and teachers,” said Congressman Moskowitz. “We need to take an all-of-the-above approach to school safety to mitigate school-based violence, which is why I’m proud to relaunch the Bipartisan School Safety and Security Caucus with my colleague and co-founder Tony Gonzales. Together, we can continue our urgent work to find and advance commonsense solutions that will protect our schools, improve threat assessments, and support youth mental health.”
“On May 24, 2022, 19 children and two teachers were senselessly murdered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, leaving the small town of just over 15,000 people forever changed. There are no sentiments that will ever heal the heartbreak of losing 21 souls far before their time, especially at a place where they were supposed to be safe,” said Congressman Gonzales. “The truth is, our schools have become soft targets for twisted, evil individuals. I’m a dad of six, I share the same worry that parents and grandparents across America do when it comes to the safety of our kids in the classroom. That’s why I am fully committed to bringing lawmakers, law enforcement, teachers, and parents to the table to safeguard our schools. Congressman Moskowitz and I are once again looking forward to joining forces in Congress to advance policies that secure our schools and protect our kids.”
Moskowitz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, has already introduced multiple pieces of legislation this Congress to strengthen safety at Florida schools. In advance of February’s seven-year mark since the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he announced his bipartisan Measures for Safer School Districts (MSD) Act to improve emergency notification systems and bolster interior and exterior doors at schools; bipartisan Single Application for School Safety (SASS) Act to streamline the federal grant application process for school safety funding; and bipartisan EAGLES Act to establish a national program on targeted violence prevention at schools. He and Gonzales are also leading the bipartisan ALYSSA Act to require silent panic alarms in all schools and the bipartisan Strengthening Our Schools (SOS) Act to invest in School Resource Officers. All are commonsense measures to ensure schools are better prepared to keep students safe in the case of emergency.
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