Politics
Millions of Floridians face SNAP cutoff this weekend as shutdown drags on
With the federal government shutdown entering its fifth week, food assistance for millions of Floridians is set to lapse this weekend, threatening an immediate hunger crisis and a cascading hit to the state’s economy and charities.
Federal officials have said November benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not be issued without new spending authority, a move that would interrupt aid relied upon by roughly 42 million people nationwide.
Florida has not announced a state-funded bridge to keep benefits flowing, even as some states explore temporary measures to cover the gap. That leaves an estimated 3 million SNAP recipients in Florida at risk of losing assistance beginning Saturday, Nov. 1.
The pressure is acute across myriad Sunshine State localities.
In Central Florida, about 175,000 Orange County residents receive SNAP, including seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and families with children. Mayor Jerry Demings said he will ask County Commissioners to approve an additional $1 million in emergency aid to blunt the impact, on top of the county’s existing $5.3 million in annual support for Second Harvest Food Bank and other programs.
Demings also said he is sending a letter urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to deploy state emergency funds to help.
Eric Gray of the Christian Service Center in Orlando likened the surge in need to calls for aid after a hurricane event.
“I’m a little scared. I’ll be honest,” he told Florida Politics this week. “We need every business in the community, we need every church, every mosque, every temple, every Little League baseball team, every neighborhood association, and every Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop to be organizing food drives right now this weekend. That’s the kind of sense of enormity that we’re feeling right now.”
In Miami-Dade County, which has a population of around 2.7 million people, leaders say the cutoff could hit nearly 1 in 4 households.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava warned that local food agencies already straining to meet demand will see needs “beyond our worst” and urged residents to donate — preferably money — to frontline charities.
County officials have also launched a centralized donation and information portal to coordinate help
Food banks say they cannot replace what SNAP provides. Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida distributed 82 million meals last year. But the organization’s Director of Advocacy and Government Relations, Stephanie Palacios, noted in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel that SNAP typically delivers nine meals for every one meal food banks provide — an imbalance that becomes glaring when federal benefits stop.
Charities across the state, including United Way and church-run pantries, are bracing for longer lines and emptier shelves if the shutdown continues into November.
Paco Velez of Feeding South Florida told NBC 6 that SNAP channels billions of dollars in annual grocery spending into Florida.
On Capitol Hill, the political stalemate shows few signs of breaking before the weekend. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it will not issue benefits Nov. 1 absent a funding deal. President Donald Trump’s administration has declined to tap remaining contingency funds it argues are reserved for emergencies such as disaster response, prompting dozens of states to sue while pursuing stopgap measures.
Florida’s congressional delegation is split on the way forward. Republican U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar has co-sponsored the “Keep SNAP Funded Act,” which would ensure benefits continue even during a shutdown.
Meanwhile, all Democrats in the state delegation signed a letter urging Florida to join litigation challenging the freeze. So far, DeSantis has rebuffed those calls, arguing the issue lies with Senate negotiations.
Amid it all, misinformation continues to swirl online, particularly claims that undocumented immigrants are driving benefit costs. Policy experts call such assertions patently false, noting that SNAP is tightly means-tested, with the largest share of recipients being children and seniors.
Recent fact-checks by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University also note that shutdown negotiations in Washington are not about expanding federal health coverage for undocumented immigrants.
As of Friday, Oct. 31, no state-funded bridge in Florida has been announced to address SNAP shortfalls.
Need food or want to help?
— Get Help Florida: Food pantries listed by city.
— Broward County: Area Agency on Aging.
— FoodFinder.
— Farm Share.
— Feeding Tampa Bay, serving Citrus, Hardee, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sumter counties).
— Harry Chapin Food Bank, serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.
— Central Florida: Use Second Harvest’s “Find Help” locator or call/text 211 for resources.
— Miami-Dade: County officials and local pantries have posted donation information and volunteer sign-ups online. People can also call 211 for help.
— Palm Beach County Food Bank.
___
Jacob Ogles and Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.