SNAP, or food stamps. provides money for groceries to low-income families.
Government shutdown impacts SNAP benefits
State health officials say food assistance could be cut off for millions if the government doesn’t reopen in the next few days.
Fox – 4 News
- Florida Democrats are urging Governor Ron DeSantis to use state funds to cover food benefits set to expire due to a federal government shutdown.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides food aid to 2.8 million Floridians and is federally funded but state-administered.
- A federal government shutdown, which began October 1, is the cause for the potential lapse in funding for SNAP and other programs.
Funding authority for a food benefits program is set to expire Nov. 1, and Florida Democrats want Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency and use state money to pay for it.
All 43 Democrats in the Legislature signed a letter Oct. 28 urging DeSantis to prevent delays in benefits for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, also known as food stamps.
“Florida has the fiscal strength to respond,” the letter states. “What’s needed now is the moral will to act. No parent should have to choose between paying rent and feeding their kids. No child should go hungry because politicians in Washington can’t agree. We urge you to act immediately.”
SNAP provides money for groceries to low-income families, is funded by the federal government, but is administered by the states. Unless a recipient is disabled, taking care of a child under 6, in a drug treatment program or in school or job training, they are required to work to receive SNAP benefits.
There are nearly 42 million SNAP recipients nationwide, including 2.8 million in Florida. Only households earning below 200% of the federal poverty line ($64,300 for a family of four) can qualify for SNAP, although assets also factor into eligibility. The maximum monthly benefit for a family of four is $994.
Democrats have pointed to DeSantis’ frequent use of emergency powers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on immigration enforcement, including on the Alligator Alcatraz detention center, to argue he should use that authority to prevent a lapse in SNAP benefits.
“This is a moral question for America that in this moment we are failing,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried posted on X on Oct. 27.
“The emergency funds (U.S. Department of Agriculture) controls must be released. DeSantis needs to tap into Florida’s emergency funds (are we still giving out corrupt contracts to donors?). Democrats continue to fight for your family.”
A spokesman for DeSantis didn’t respond to an email seeking comment for this story. But on Oct. 29, one day after this story published online, he suggested Democratic lawmakers should ask U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, to vote to fund the government and stop the shutdown.
“Did those Democrats write a letter to Chuck Schumer asking him to stop filibustering the spending? Come on,” he told reporters at an event in Tampa.
Federal shutdown has stopped funding for variety of programs, needs
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, when budget authority ran out. Florida and other states have been able to issue SNAP benefits for this month because federal disbursements were made ahead of the shutdown.
Although Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House, the filibuster rule in the U.S. Senate effectively means 60 votes are needed to pass substantive legislation. The GOP advantage over Democrats in the Senate is only 53-45, with two independents who vote with Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has refused to vote for a short-term continuing resolution to keep current budget levels unless Republicans agree to permanently extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act health care policies, set to expire at the end of the year. The spike in costs will likely price millions of Americans out of the market.
As the shutdown has lingered and put greater financial constraints on federal employees and citizens have seen fewer services, the rhetoric to end the shutdown has intensified.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a federal employee union with some members that have been furloughed or are in danger of losing paychecks, called on senators to pass a budget bill to reopen the government – a call echoed by Senate Republicans.
“To the Democrats holding the checks of our troops, CBP and ICE agents hostage — stop playing political games with people’s livelihoods while we work to return this country to a place of law and order,” Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida posted on X on Oct. 28.
Meanwhile, SNAP recipients face a Nov. 1 deadline before they’ll start missing benefit payments. President Donald Trump’s administration has said it won’t use emergency funds to pay for SNAP during the shutdown, and won’t backfill states that opt to pay for it themselves either.
Democratic governors are attempting to push back, with 25 states and Washington, D.C., filing suit Oct. 28 to compel the Trump administration to pay for SNAP during the shutdown.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
