DeSantis dismisses calls to declare emergency over Florida SNAP benefits

Romy Ellenbogen, Tampa Bay Times on Nov 3, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that the state’s agriculture department will “be doing more” to help the nearly 3 million low-income Floridians who may be going without federal food assistance amid the government shutdown.

But DeSantis dismissed calls from state Democrats to declare an emergency, tap into emergency funds and distribute food aid as funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program lapses.

“I’m getting letters from Democrats saying, ‘You should declare an emergency and create your own SNAP,’ when they’re the ones that are filibustering SNAP,” DeSantis said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said earlier it planned to freeze payments to the program starting Nov. 1 because of the government shutdown.

Two federal judges on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must use contingency funds to keep the program going. On Monday, the Trump administration said in a court filing that it would send partial payments to recipients this month, but would not tap into additional funds.

In Florida, about one in eight people use the federal anti-hunger program. About 60% of Florida’s participants are families with children, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Florida’s legislative Democratic delegation sent DeSantis a letter Tuesday outlining a request for action, saying that “no child should go hungry because politicians in Washington can’t agree.”

DeSantis, during the Monday news conference, said the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would be mobilizing and said he was happy to support those efforts, although he did not provide specifics.

Florida is not using emergency funding to address food insecurity, a spokesperson for the governor’s office confirmed.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson this summer launched the Farmers Feeding Florida initiative, which partners with agriculture producers to rescue “unmarketable” products and distribute them as food aid.

The Legislature put $28 million toward administering that program and $10 million toward expanding food bank infrastructure.

When asked how the agriculture department was responding to the federal food aid funding cut, Simpson, in a statement, pointed to the farmers’ program before attacking congressional Democrats for the shutdown.

The farmer food bank program runs through Feeding Florida. In the first three months of operation, the program distributed about 3.8 million pounds of food from Florida growers, according to a recent report.

Farmers working with the program provide dairy, seafood, peanut butter and a variety of produce.

Other states, both those run by Democrats and those run by Republicans, have taken action in anticipation of a cutoff of federal food aid.

In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered the Iowa National Guard to prepare for possible food distribution duty and directed state funds to match all cash donations to Iowa food banks up to $1 million.

States like Massachusetts and Minnesota have put millions of dollars toward funding food banks.

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