JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If the government shutdown continues, millions of Floridians who rely on SNAP benefits for food could soon go without critical assistance.
Three million Floridians rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table, and roughly half of those are children.
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State Representative Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) joined all 42 other Democratic state lawmakers in Florida and called on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency on hunger.
They’re hoping he will free up the state’s $15 billion in reserves to backfill federal food assistance.
“We should access those reserves to make sure that they don’t go hungry, to make sure that the small mom and pop shops don’t close down, to make sure that people can continue to work their jobs at the grocery stores and all of those places that receive those SNAP benefits for payouts,” Nixon said.
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Speaking in Tampa Wednesday, DeSantis signaled he doesn’t see a role for the state to play.
“Did those Democrats write a letter to Chuck Schumer asking him to stop filibustering the spending? Come on,” DeSantis said.
State Representative Dean Black (R-Yulee) took a similar perspective.
He argued now is not the time to dip into reserves.
“We should not be squandering our reserves during hurricane season. Instead, we should be demanding that the federal government do what the federal government is supposed to do,” Black said.
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A coalition of 25 states is taking a different approach, suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an effort to force it to use $5 billion in reserve funds to keep the SNAP program afloat.
But Nixon argued Florida could act faster.
She also noted the state hasn’t been shy about tapping into emergency funds to help carry out federal missions in the past, such as Alligator Alcatraz.
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“This man just greased the palms of many of his campaign donors to throw up a raggedy tent city when none was needed in Alligator Alley. So, you can’t tell me that we can’t feed our neighbors,” Nixon said.
Short of freeing up reserve funds to address the problem directly, Nixon said she wants to see Florida join onto the multi-state lawsuit against the USDA.
Though, with a conservative Attorney General, she doesn’t imagine that’s likely to happen.
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