Politics
Vern Buchanan urges end to shutdown in letter blasting Democrats
U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is stepping up his calls to end the one-month government shutdown, leading a letter from Florida Republicans urging Senate Democratic leaders to approve a House-passed spending plan and reopen the government.
The Longboat Key Republican, who serves as Vice Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, accused Senate Democrats of blocking a “clean continuing resolution” that would pay federal workers, restore food assistance and restart key health programs.
The letter, signed by 17 other members of Florida’s GOP delegation, blames Democrats for “holding government funding hostage” in pursuit of what they call a “reckless $1.5 trillion partisan spending package.”
“Floridians and Americans deserve a government that puts them above politics,” the lawmakers wrote. “It’s time for Senate Democrats to stop holding government funding hostage and join House Republicans to reopen the government.”
The shutdown, now entering its fifth week, began after Congress failed to reach a spending deal at the start of the fiscal year. Negotiations are continuing, but partisan divisions over health care policy and overall spending levels remain unresolved.
The letter says the Democratic proposal includes “taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants,” though the text of the Senate Democrats’ continuing resolution — filed mid-September as S. 2882 — contains no such provision. The Democratic bill continues existing health and nutrition programs and extends dozens of Medicare and Medicaid policies but does not create any new eligibility for undocumented immigrants.
Republicans have pointed to state programs that do provide some health care coverage to undocumented migrants. But those are largely paid for via state money, and federal reimbursement is aimed at paying for emergency coverage, which is required for any patient regardless of legal status per a federal law passed in 1986.
In the Democrats’ plan, the largest health provision makes permanent the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits first expanded during the pandemic, which apply only to legally present individuals and American residents buying insurance through the federal marketplace.
The Democratic measure would also maintain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding and set Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) funding at an $8.2 billion annualized rate “to ensure continuity of benefits.” It extends the “Hospital at Home” program but only through Oct. 31, 2025, according to the bill text.
However, Buchanan said the standoff has left about 150,000 federal workers in Florida without pay and cut off SNAP and WIC benefits for nearly 3 million residents. He also raised concerns about the “Hospital at Home” program, which he said has been halted because of Democratic inaction.
Buchanan’s Office said he does not support including the expiring health care subsidies in a short-term funding bill. His spokesperson said the Congressman “will be open to a conversation about next steps for the expiring ACA subsidies once Democrats stop grandstanding and vote to reopen the government.”
In an op-ed published before the shutdown, Buchanan argued that the subsidy extensions were “a crisis of Democrats’ own making” and that a short-term funding bill “is not the appropriate vehicle to solve it.” He said Democrats are “insisting on a rushed, partisan process” instead of negotiating “durable, bipartisan solutions” to lower costs and improve health care access.
Buchanan further pressed his case during a tour of the Food Bank of Manatee on Tuesday, where he met with staff and volunteers responding to increased demand for food aid as federal benefits remain frozen. He later joined the organization’s emergency drive-through food distribution at Dream Church in Bradenton, where he delivered food to local residents and held a press conference highlighting the shutdown’s impact on local families who rely on SNAP.
The Congressman also pledged to donate his pay from the last month to the Food Bank and emphasized his support for the No Budget, No Pay Act, which would block members of Congress from receiving pay during future shutdowns. Buchanan did not confirm the dollar amount of his donation.
“With SNAP benefits delayed, our local food banks are picking up the slack,” Buchanan said. “Nearly 3 million people across Florida and 40,000 people right here in Manatee County rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table. Organizations like the Food Bank of Manatee do incredible work, but they cannot shoulder this burden alone.”
Maribeth Phillips, President and CEO of the Food Bank of Manatee and Meals on Wheels PLUS, thanked Buchanan for visiting the distribution site.
“Congressman Buchanan’s participation brings a spotlight on food insecurity in Manatee and the importance of our programs, especially now with SNAP benefits paused affecting thousands in Manatee County, including babies, children, families and seniors,” she said in a statement.
For the first time in a decade, hunters armed with rifles and crossbows are fanning out across Florida’s swamps and flatwoods to legally hunt the Florida black bear, over the vocal opposition of critics.
The state-sanctioned hunt began Saturday, after drawing more than 160,000 applications for a far more limited number of hunting permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed in this year’s hunt, the state’s first since 2015.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded 172 bear hunt permits by random lottery for this year’s season, allowing hunters to kill one bear each in areas where the population is deemed large enough. At least 43 of the permits went to opponents of the hunt who never intend to use them, according to the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club, which encouraged critics to apply in the hopes of saving bears.
The Florida black bear population is considered one of the state’s conservation success stories, having grown from just several hundred bears in the 1970s to an estimated more than 4,000 today.
The 172 people who were awarded a permit through a random lottery will be able to kill one bear each during the 2025 season, which runs from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28. The permits are specific to one of the state’s four designated bear hunting zones, each of which have a hunting quota set by state officials based on the bear population in each region.
In order to participate, hunters must hold a valid hunting license and a bear harvest permit, which costs $100 for residents and $300 for nonresidents, plus fees. Applications for the permits cost $5 each.
The regulated hunt will help incentivize maintaining healthy bear populations, and help fund the work that is needed, according to Mark Barton of the Florida chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, an advocacy group that supported the hunt.
Having an annual hunt will help guarantee funding to “keep moving conservation for bears forward,” Barton said.
According to state wildlife officials, the bear population has grown enough to support a regulated hunt and warrant population management. The state agency sees hunting as an effective tool that is used to manage wildlife populations around the world, and allows the state to monetize conservation efforts through permit and application fees.
“While we have enough suitable bear habitat to support our current bear population levels, if the four largest subpopulations continue to grow at current rates, we will not have enough habitat at some point in the future,” reads a bear hunting guide published by the state wildlife commission.
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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Mills was a day-one Byron Donalds backer in the gubernatorial race.
A former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor is leading the charge for Republicans as scandal swirls around a Congressman.
Saying the “evidence is mounting” against Rep. Cory Mills, Paul Renner says other candidates for Governor should “stand up and be counted” and join him in the call for Mills to leave Congress.
Renner made the call earlier this week.
But on Friday, the Palm Coast Republican doubled down.
He spotlighted fresh reporting from Roger Sollenberger alleging that Mills’ company “appears to have illegally exported weapons while he serves in Congress, including to Ukraine,” that Mills failed to disclose conflicts of interest, “tried to fistfight other Republican members of Congress, and lied about his party stature to bully other GOP candidates out of primaries that an alleged romantic interest was running in,” and lied about his conversion to Islam.
The House Ethics Committee is already probing Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, over allegations of profiting from federal defense contracts while in Congress. More recently, the Committee expanded its work to review allegations that he assaulted one ex-girlfriend and threatened to share intimate photos of another.
Other candidates have been more reticent in addressing the issue, including Rep. Byron Donalds.
“When any other members have been involved and stuff like this, my advice is the same,” said Donalds, a Naples Republican. “They need to actually spend a lot more time in the district and take stock of what’s going on at home, and make that decision with their voters.”
The response came less than a year after Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, spoke at the launch of Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.
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Staff writer Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.
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