Senator Moody One Year Anniversary Press Conference

Thank you, everybody. Please take a seat. Take a seat. I want to welcome everyone to the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, the one place that has quickly become the heart of the Cuban exile community. And I want to extend an invitation to everybody here today, including our elected officials. After the event is done, whoever has the time, we would be happy to do a tour of the museum, something that's very important in our time to understand how to protect freedom, from a prosperous democracy to an impoverished dictatorship in just one generation. And I'm very, very happy and very honored that we have such a great turnout in terms of quality here today. We have some of the great people that really make up the pillars of our community, the Eternal Brigade, Tony Costa from the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, who's been working very diligently with us on this new phase. Because as you guys know, the Trump administration has made a determination that this 2026 will be the last year of the dictatorship. So help us God, we will get there. Claudia Brigg, the Pioneer Communications is here with us as well. And the one person that has gone from being everybody's son to now everybody's brother, the person that glues the community together, that goes from Calle Ochoa to Mr. Ray Anthony. I started as an intern under Kirstie in 1990, working for Ileana Ross-Layton, and she's now with our great, great sheriff, Rosie Cordero, which shows what a great sense of intelligence and analytical prowess our great new sheriff has. Rosie, thank you. But before we get to our elected officials, whom you all know and need no introduction, we've got some real legends from folks like Tomás Regalado, who went from being the voice on the radio that we heard through all the hurricanes and through all the different attempts on the Castro's life, to being the mayor of Miami and our property appraiser, a lifelong servant of our community, to the newest, the newest face in really transforming Miami, and which I had the privilege and the honor of being part of her selection to lead Miami Dade College, Madeline Pumariella. This new generation of city commissioners that we have here, we have representatives of the Venezuelan community who call this museum home. It was here where we launched the campaign for Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Prize, and it's here where, with Fabio Andrade, where we welcomed President Uribe to make this also the home of the Colombian community. But there is one person, one person that I really, really have a great deal of pleasure and honor to be working with us now here at the museum, someone that I think we will remember for decades to come, and somebody that will be crucial in the next few months in Cuban history and American history, for that matter. Someone who has spent all but three months of the last six years in a Cuban prison, defying the regime and telling them, I'm right, you're wrong, you will lose, and I will win. And he's here with us now, Jose Daniel Ferrer. Jose Daniel never stops. You see him filming. He's filming. He sent back that video to Cuba to let everybody know in Cuba that they are being heard. When you're there, the regime is constantly telling you, we're powerful, you're weak, no one cares about you. He makes sure that everybody knows in Cuba that we are watching and that we're supporting them. Thank you, Jose Daniel. Now, we have on this occasion the privilege of hosting someone that really changes up politics. Congress moves really, really slow. But that was before Senator Ashley Moody came into Congress with a speed that can only come from someone that is prepared as a lawyer, prepared from having fought the toughest criminals, the biggest organized criminal cartels in our hemisphere from her position, and someone who has been dedicated to a lifetime of public service, always putting that above her personal life. Think about it. I mean, people think that it's very glorious to be in public service, but it also takes a lot of personal sacrifice, individual personal sacrifice on your family, on your economic goals. You can't pursue the same economic goals as those who are in the private sector. And she's done that with such a zest, such a need to get it done, that is really a great honor for us that she has picked our museum to come and provide this sort of review of what she's been doing for the last year on all fronts, not just on the Cuba front, for which we are very, very grateful. The senator was, together with Rick Scott, one of the principal proponents of the Democracia Act to limit the activities of Cuban intelligence on American soil, something that is very, very much needed because a lot of American policy in the past have been thwarted by Cuban intelligence officers, Trojan horses within our government. So today we will hear about a lot of people that have a lot to say about our new senator, Florida veterans, farmers, parents, students, and even folks from our booming space industry. To begin, I would like to call someone that has quickly gone from being a new face of Miami public affairs to be one of the most beloved and trusted faces of Miami's public affairs team, our sheriff, Rosie Cordero-Stutz. Sheriff, please. Good morning, everyone. Thank you. You'll bear with me as I put on my eyes. I'm older than the senator, so I get to call for my reading glasses. Well, thank you all for being here today. I want to really start by thanking someone who has never backed down from a fight, Senator Ashley Moody. Senator Moody is a Floridian. She is a friend to law enforcement, and she is one of the strongest advocates this state and this country has ever had in the fight against fentanyl. This crisis is personal for us. We see it in the lives cut way too short and far too soon. When Senator Moody was Florida's attorney general, she made fentanyl a top priority. She didn't wait. She didn't hesitate. She acted. She stood shoulder to shoulder with law enforcement. She pushed for stronger tools. She went after traffickers, dealers, and networks profiting off of death. And when she went to Washington, that fight did not stop. Last year, Senator Moody came right here to Miami, and she asked a simple question. What more can I do? That level of support matters tremendously because it shows that we have an unwavering friend at the highest level of government and a person who knows us and who listens. She championed the Halt Fentanyl Act to permanently schedule this poison at the federal level, to close loopholes, to keep it off of our streets, and to save lives. She came back again, not for headlines, but to show support for our Venezuelan community, to stand against narco-terrorism, and to stand for accountability. Senator Moody understands this truth, that public safety should not be held hostage by politics, that protecting our kids is not optional, and that fentanyl is the deadliest illegal drug threat our country has ever faced. Senator Moody, on behalf of the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, thank you. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you. Thank you for your courage, and thank you for never forgetting the men and women in the front lines. Florida is safer because of you, and this fight continues together. Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff. Now I'd like to call Jeb Smith, President of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, to hear about Senator Moody's work to bolster our state's agriculture, such as sponsoring the Defending Domestic Orange Juice Production Act, and many other things. Jeb, if you can please come up. Well, good morning to all, and I just want to say, first of all, thank you so much for the hospitality that's been met with us today. It is a blessing to be here and to be with you all. And I can tell you what, I just feel like you come home when you come to this group of folks, that's for certain. But I want to say this about, and congratulations, Senator Moody, on your first year representing Florida in the U.S. Senate. On behalf of Florida's farmers, ranchers, and growers, I want to say how grateful we are for your strong, steady, and your immediate willingness to step forward as a champion for agriculture. In just one year, Senator Moody has proven that Florida agriculture has a knowledgeable, engaged, and relentless advocate in Washington. A prime example of her leadership has already been mentioned, but it's on behalf of the citrus industry, a sector that has faced historic challenges from citrus greening, storm damage, and rising production costs. And on April 2nd, 2025, Senator Moody introduced the Defending Domestic Orange Juice Production Act, legislation designed to modernize an outdated federal standard for pasteurized orange juice that so reflects today's agricultural realities. Because of that leadership, on August 6th, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration issued a proposed rule to update the federal standard of identity for pasteurized orange juice, lowering the minimum BRIC standard requirement from 10.5% to 10%. This practical, science-based adjustment will allow more Florida-grown fruit to be used in American-made juice, strengthening domestic production and reducing reliance on foreign imports. Thank you, Senator. That's what effective representation looks like. Identifying a real problem, advancing a legislative solution, and delivering meaningful regulatory progress. And citrus is just one example. Throughout her first year of office, Senator Moody has consistently engaged her producers, listened to state stakeholders, and made Florida agriculture make sure that it has a seat at the table in the decision-making process. Senator, Florida's agricultural community thanks you for your leadership, your accessibility, and your commitment to keeping American agriculture strong and competitive. We look forward to continuing this work together for many years to come. Congratulations on an outstanding first year, and thank you from our Florida farmers. Just to summarize that, we're making the Florida orange great again. Now we have Adjunct General Andy Marshall of the Disabled American Veterans who can speak to Senator Moody's work on behalf of our military members and veterans. Well, it's good afternoon now. It's a pleasure to be here with the Senator. My name is Andy Marshall. I'm with Disabled American Veterans. I'm a combat wounded veteran from Vietnam, and I appreciate what the Senator has done for all veterans since she came into office in January of last year. I first met her when she attended the DAV Department Convention in June 2025, and that is an important month because the Senator then, in June, along with several other senators, co-sponsored the major Richard Starr Act, which will, if finally passed, will allow veterans to receive their full benefits which they earned while serving their country. In fact, Senator Moody has sponsored several other pieces of legislation, about eight of them, and she remarked that the brave men and women who were injured in combat to protect this great country deserve the full benefits for which they are entitled. Today, I'm proud to stand with the bipartisan group that has co-sponsored the major Richard Starr Act. She further stated, Florida is the most veteran-friendly state in the nation, and this common sense bill is another way to say thanks for our military keeping our country free. As I said, she has sponsored several other bills in the Senate. She knows what it's like to have a family member in harm's way. Her son is on active duty at any time he could be deployed anywhere in the world, and that's the things you do when you choose to serve your country like her son has, and I am sure she will ensure when he becomes a veteran at a later date that he receives all the benefits he is entitled for serving his country. It has been a great year, and thank you very much for taking care of our veterans, and your staff responds within an hour to any inquiry we have, so thank you very much. Go Army. Go Army. Next up, we have Joshua Tyler, student body president at my alma mater, Monsignor Edward Pace High School. Great to see you. Thank you, everybody. Good afternoon. My name is Joshua Tyler, and as my good friend just mentioned, I am student body president at Monsignor Edward Pace High School, and it is located in Miami Gardens, Florida. So, I'm very honored and very blessed to be here at this moment to talk about education choice and how Senator Moody's been a very fervent supporter of it, and how it's had such a profound impact on my life. You know, my parents are Haitian immigrants, and they came to this country to look for a better life and to get some better opportunities in life, and that included ensuring that their children would get the education that they need and to have a good faith-based education as well, and they sacrificed a lot of things to send myself, my two siblings that are older than me, to a Catholic school. They did that, and over the years, I've seen my parents when I was a little kid, when they would be in that dining room, sitting at the kitchen table, you know, they would have to figure out how they would pay the bills and what type of financial situation they would be within the next two years or five years or how many more years, and those questions were taking a toll on our family, but we didn't let that completely cloud our judgment, and our hopes are still here. It's very much still here, and so without Florida's Family Empowerment Scholarship, I don't know how they could have afforded to pay the tuition for school, and if not for the scholarship, I don't believe I would have been a Spartan. I don't believe I would have been able to go to Holy Family Catholic School, which was my middle school. I don't believe that would have happened, and it made it possible, so Holy Family and Monsignor Edward Place High School has taught me a lot of things. The Spartan experience has shaped me, and understanding that there may be many hands in this mission, but there's only one mission, and that we stand up for truth and grace, and on our seal at Holy Family, excuse me, Monsignor Place High School, we have a motto on our seal, and it says, gratia e veritas. That's what we stand for. That's the values of our institution. That's what we support. We stand up for that at every single chance that we have, and those are the values that my mother, who is here today, can you please stand up, please? Yeah, yeah, she has, she looks like she hasn't aged a bit, because she has a good kid. Don't toot my horn like that, okay, but if it wasn't for her and my father teaching me these type of values, then I don't think I would be standing here in front of you today, so I'm very grateful and very thankful that these opportunities came into being, and participating in athletics like cross country and track and field, becoming the class president my junior and senior year, being able to represent my peers. The reason I ran was because I wanted to unite people, to bring people together, to bring a message of positivity, to show what grace and truth is all about, so I become more outgoing, more confident, more open-minded. I become a leader, and I'm very proud of the personality development that has come to me and to my family, and not just that pace do I represent, but I represent the whole entire community, so Senator Moody, I want to thank you for supporting school choice, thank you, so that students like myself are able to speak, so that stories like this is possible, and that every single voice in America, every student in America can have an opportunity like this. My parents came to America looking for better opportunities to build a bridge of success and support for their three children, and I want to pass on that same type of example when I have kids, so to conclude, I would like to recite a verse from the Bible that has touched me and that has shown me an example on how to walk on this green earth, and it comes from the book of Joshua chapter 1 verse 9, it says, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be dismayed, for your God will be with you wherever you go. As you can see, I'm not afraid, I'm not dismayed, but God has strengthened me and given me a lot of courage to stand up here today, and education choice makes that very much possible, and like I said, it makes my story possible, and every student that is listening to this speech, look at me and tell me that this story is not possible in America. So thank you very much, may God bless the archdiocese and the city of Miami, may God bless the great state of Florida, and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you. You did great. Well, this was supposed to be me showing up here on my one-year anniversary to report to you, my bosses, how we're doing up there in the swamp, and this has just been, I had no idea that all of you would be here this morning. It touched my heart to walk in here and see so many of you to celebrate today, but today is not about me at all. In fact, I'm a little bit embarrassed you're all here to celebrate this one-year anniversary. It's more about all of those people that came up here and spoke, including the grand finale, Tyler. What a remarkable person. It's about the moms, it's about the families, it's about the fundamental principles that this country was built on that we remain tethered to, even in the midst of great challenge. It's about the people here today that were introduced that understand because many of them were involved or had family involved personally with the fight for the God-given rights that this country said we will protect at all costs. I am so proud to show up here today, having been a United States Senator for one year at this place specifically, who understands that the United States of America is not great because of the written word of man or because we say it's great. It's great because God bestowed on us unalienable rights. Our creator gave us rights and we as man came together and said we want to live as a free people and we will do so and lay out foundational documents that set those unalienable rights out and shows how we're going to protect them. Because what the government of man is not so much about what government is doing, it's more about what it's not doing and protecting you. I went to Washington and said to Governor DeSantis and to President Trump, put me in the fight, put me in this place that the people are beginning to distrust and let me work to make this a place that the people believe is acting in their interests and our national interests again. Let this be a place where there is no question of the of the of its integrity or the interests of those that are there to represent you because those of you in this room know all too well when we start chipping away at the people's trust and the government that is supposed to reflect them, it sabotages the strength of a nation. When government ceases to reflect the people it is supposed to represent, it weakens us all as Americans. And from the day I got there, look at my face. I didn't know this picture was going to be up. This is nowhere in any remarks. Can you tell how excited I am to get to work? I said, let me, let me go, let me go. And right after I took that out, I went back in and voted and we got to work. And in fact, I believe I was named one of the busiest freshmen senators last year. And I did that for you. I did that because I wanted a stronger and safer nation, but I wanted a stronger and safer Florida. Stronger families means we've got to get to work unleashing energy. We've got to start making sure we're passing legislation to keep more money in people's pockets. And that's why we're seeing declining inflation, rising wages. That's why this year, because of legislation we passed, you're going to have more money in your pockets. I was so excited that one of the first bills that I got to pass, having been the attorney general, having been married to a DEA agent and career law enforcement officer was the Fentanyl Act. I took the fight from Florida. And by the way, we just announced historic drops in overdose deaths in Florida. And we did what hardly ever gets done in Washington. We actually passed legislation to solve the problems because one part of being successful in Washington and probably the biggest part of it is rolling up your sleeves and working hard and not letting the challenges or the overwhelming criticisms at times, rather just or unjust, putting your head down, plowing ahead and getting it done for the people that sent you there. And that is why I was not going to stop fighting until we started getting things done on the 92% drop in production of Florida oranges. That's a problem when our state is built and known for the Florida orange. So we got done something that we've been working on for a decade in the first six months. And when they said, we're going to make sure that Florida remains the most veteran friendly state in the nation, because we have three combatant commands, 21 military installations. I said, absolutely. And not just because we're a military family, because we would not be the land of the free without our brave. So we have closed thousands of cases for our constituents because I truly believe my mission as a Senator, as your representative in Washington is to serve you. The legislative branch is to bring the people's voices to bear, to bring the people's wants to action. And so my offices around the state know their number one mission is to work for you. You call them up, they're going to help you resolve your issue. We closed 600 veterans cases this year when they called with concerns among thousands of our constituent issues. I was so proud, not only to co-sponsor numerous bills to fight for veterans and our military families, but to actually solve their problems. And that is what representation is about. I could stand here today and tick through all of the things that we have done and succeeded on. We fought for Florida's Space Coast, and I just have to brag a little bit on Florida's Space Coast. As the Attorney General, they don't want you digging in and messing around with their space launches. Apparently lawyers aren't good at space launches. But as a Senator, I got involved immediately because our infrastructure and launches almost 40% of the worldwide launches into space. We launch more spacecraft from Florida's Space Coast than all of the other spaceports in the United States combined. So we got legislation passed within my first six months, seven months that we've been working on for a decade, to have investment into that spaceport. Because as you can imagine, when we started Florida's Space Coast, we have some old infrastructure. It is allowing for investment into that spaceport, just like airports and seaports. We're leveling the playing field, and we got that done. I was so proud to bring that home for Florida's Space Coast. Obviously, as the wife of a law enforcement officer, I am so proud of the work that we have done to bolster the resources for our law enforcement officers throughout the nation. I will always have their backs. And Tyler, I want to let you and every kid watching know that I will continue to fight for meaningful opportunities for our kids. An opportunity that is available to a child in this nation for education should be based on their talents, on their needs, on their individual circumstances, not on their zip codes. And I will fight for that until everyone has the chance that Tyler had. And I want to tell you, within the first year of me being in the United States Senate, I took the model that we started in Florida, and I championed that, and we got that done. And now we will have more resources for Florida kids, and other kids throughout the nation will have an opportunity like Tyler. That is a win not just for Florida, but for the United States of America's kids. My staff, I want to thank you. They knew that when I got into this role, this was not going to be an office that sat back and reacted. We were going to be proactive and solving problems. And if there is one thing I could say today that I am proud of, we have gone to Washington. We have been the voice of Floridians. We have fought for their issues. We have fought to protect life. We have fought to protect families. We have fought to protect our law enforcement officers. And because of that, we have not just strengthened the United States of America. We have not just strengthened the state of Florida. Every single person in this state should feel the momentum of being a Floridian right now. They should feel that they've got a government that is working on their behalf with their interests in mind. That is meaningful governance. That is what you need for a strong, free people. And this museum, where we are involved in Cuba or even what happened in Venezuela, they would tell you where they felt like things started slipping from being a free, prosperous nation state is when they stopped feeling like government was working for them. When people hijack leadership and start acting in their own self-interests, people are no longer in charge. And for true freedom, you have to have accountability, trust. That's the American way. That's why I sacrificed and went to Washington to fight for you. And no, Ashley Moody, the United States senator, is your senator, the people's senator. And I will never stop fighting for you. Thank you so much. I had a very long speech, but it was perfect. Thank you, everyone. And whoever wants to do the tour downstairs, we'll be meeting a little while I'm doing the tour. Thank you. Thank you, Sheriff.