Every Democrat in the Florida Legislature signed off on a letter Tuesday urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to help Floridians set to lose federal food assistance soon.
Nearly 3 million state residents are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps low-income people get groceries.
But, as the federal government shutdown reaches a month, SNAP benefits are scheduled to pause on Saturday.
“For families already struggling under record food and housing costs, the loss of this critical support would be catastrophic,” the House and Senate Democrats wrote.
“We are days away from a full-blown hunger emergency that will leave families without food during the holiday season,” they said. “The state cannot stand by."
Florida Democrats are asking DeSantis to declare a state of emergency on food insecurity, which would unlock emergency resources.
"We urge you to act immediately," they wrote.
They also want the state to use emergency funds to purchase food and strengthen food distribution. And they’re calling for the state to provide universal free school meals to Florida children.
"I can't imagine a better function of government than to assure that our people don't go hungry," said Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Delray Beach.
Florida House leadership hasn't responded to the letter. Katie Betta, spokesperson for Senate President Ben Albritton, said she didn't have a statement to provide "at this time."
When asked about it during a Wednesday morning press conference, DeSantis responded, “Did those Democrats write a letter to [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer asking him to stop filibustering the spending?”
Berman, meanwhile, blames Republicans: "I'm really disappointed to see that the Republicans who have full control of the presidency and both of the House and the Senate are not making any efforts to stop this shutdown and to negotiate in good faith with the Democrats to make sure that the shutdown is ended," she said.
Some states, like New York and Virginia, are helping to pay for SNAP benefits during the government shutdown by using their own state funds, but the federal government says it will not reimburse them.
Also on Tuesday, Democratic states sued the Trump administration over the SNAP suspension and a debate over whether contingency funds can be used to continue the benefits.
If you have any questions about state government or the legislative process, you can ask the Your Florida team by clicking here.
This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
