By Jesse Scheckner
FloridaPolitics.com
September 11, 2021
Florida’s neediest families are missing out on about $820 million in child food assistance.
Florida Democrats are piling on Gov. Ron DeSantis with demands he reverse his “appalling” decision not to reenlist the state in a pandemic-era program to bring federal food aid to 2.1 million children from low-income homes.
Through his inaction, they said, DeSantis is blocking Florida’s neediest families from getting about $820 million in child food aid, which they could spend at local grocery stores and markets at a time when many families are suffering.
And according to these Democrats, he’s the sole holdout.
“It’s unacceptable that Florida is now the only state that hasn’t signed up for the federal funding we passed in our COVID relief plan to ensure that children don’t go hungry. Playing politics with hungry children is simply cruel,” U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is challenging Marco Rubio for his U.S. Senate seat, wrote on Twitter Thursday.
Florida participated in the program, the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT), during last school year. The state was estimated to have received $1.2 billion for more than a million kids who qualified for free or reduced lunch through June.
The program began under former President Donald Trump as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. It was meant to help children who had received free or discounted lunches at school to be fed while studying remotely during school closures. It was also available to children up to age 5 whose families were enrolled for federal SNAP benefits over the summer.
In a May 27, 2020 statement, DeSantis said he applauded Trump and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for making the program available, even though the regular school year had ended. P-EBT, he said, allowed “states to identify gaps in service and develop new and needed programs that will help parents be reassured that their children will continue to receive healthy lunches.”
The USDA extended P-EBT through this summer under President Joe Biden and allowed it to continue afterward, enabling states that hadn’t signed up yet to do so during the regular 2021-22 school year.
This time, Florida didn’t apply.
The result has been a $375 shortfall per eligible child over the summer, with kids losing $2.26 for breakfast, $3.60 for lunch, and $1 for a snack daily.
“It is truly appalling that Florida is not taking advantage of a program that will help some of the most vulnerable children in the state,” Rep. Marie Woodson of Hollywood said in a statement. “It’s incomprehensible, and it is time we join the rest of the nation in allowing Floridians to benefit from this program.”
Woodson’s comment was one of several in a joint statement Thursday from the House Democratic Office, which said Florida is now “the only state in the country” to not request P-EBT funds.
“This is not a partisan issue. It’s about being a leader for all Floridians and making an investment in the health and wellbeing of children, our communities and the State,” Rep. Ramon Alexander of Tallahassee said. “Florida deserves better.”
So far, DeSantis’ administration has offered little explanation for why it hasn’t taken further advantage of the program, and he has remained mum on the matter.
His press secretary, Christina Pushaw, and Communications Director Taryn Fenske, did not respond to a Florida Politics query by press time. However, Pushaw’s comments to the Orlando Sentinel last month suggest his position is that kids don’t need the program because they’re back in school.
“P-EBT was created by the federal government last year to ensure children were still being fed while they attended school remotely,” she wrote. “As you know, schools are not remote in Florida and were not remote last year either. Children are receiving nutrition directly from schools.”
As the Tampa Bay Times reported, Florida SNAP recipients lost about $280 million per month in additional federal benefits when DeSantis allowed the state’s pandemic state of emergency to lapse over the summer. Floridians lost another $300 million in federal unemployment benefits in May as part of an effort by his administration to get residents to rejoin the workforce.
The attention DeSantis has attracted for refusing to rejoin the P-EBT program comes while he’s embroiled in a legal battle over an executive order he signed June 30 barring schools from requiring students to wear masks on campus.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is running to supplant DeSantis next year, lambasted him last month for “forcing parents to make terrible choices” between their children’s education and protecting them from COVID-19.
She later took aim at his decision not to pursue P-EBT aid.
“There is simply no reason why you should have ended — or be so far behind in securing — this critical federal assistance for our children that is being provided at no cost to the state,” she wrote in a letter, pointing out that it’s not too late to apply retroactively for the funds. “The people of Florida cannot afford for you to leave money on the table, especially when it means leaving food off their tables.”
Another anti-DeSantis article. Will the FO ever publish one that puts DeSantis in a favorable light or has the FO invoked a “Never DeSantis” publishing policy. The fact is this program was started by President Trump to aid states in providing nutritional meals to school children during the summer and when schools were in remote learning mode. Now that schools are back in-person, there is no longer a need for this program since the schools are receiving the federal aid for their food service programs.
Sad to see the FO veer from its Fernandina Beach/Nassau County focus to publish such politically oriented articles.
Agree – thank you Dave!
And the thousands of students (a number sure to grow with the mask ban lifted) who find themselves quarantined and unable to get these “federally” subsidized school meals?
shouldn’t desantis do something worthy of favorable light first? ..thank you FB Observer for good reporting
the handling of school matters is a topic of utmost relevance in our community. How is this article not relevant and how is it a “piece” ?
We are relatively new to the area and so grateful to be building our home here. I first subscribed to this local paper as a way to learn about the town and its folks. If I want politics, which I really don’t, there are many better options for my queries other than the single track thinking of FO whining. I have enjoyed your rebuts.
Welcome to FB! The anti-Desantis articles will only increase over the next 14 months. I take them all with a grain of salt as the vast majority of the media is left leaning and won’t write a pro Governor article……so very few exist.
But you will find the Observer excels in City Commission reporting and Suanne writes in depth balanced articles on the shenanigans at 2nd and Ash…….always fun to read those. They have already given me a good perspective on the 5 members and which ones to vote for. Great stuff.
When Fernandina Beach or Nassau County raise taxes many people object.
But, when the far-away federal government hands out free stuff, everyone lines up at the trough because it’s Other People’s Money. The trouble with OPM is it’s paid by ALL of us through personal and business income taxes, payroll taxes, etc. And, when the Feds run out of money, we pay interest on the money they borrowed.
Very literally – there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
It’s not quite that simple, John. It depends on who/what gets a “free lunch”. https://money.cnn.com/news/specials/storysupplement/bankbailout/
Pragmatism tells me to use resources that have been made available. I am not sure just why DeSantis turned his back on this – except to make life harder for those that need help. I have seen nothing in the way of alternatives coming out of Tallahassee. Kids live in Florida too.
there are thousands of children not attending in person school because their parents are concerned about their health. These families could still use this aid. For DeSantis to say that families don’t need this help is callous. His main goal is to get people back working into poverty level jobs to satisfy his campaign donors. As far as paying taxes, I certainly don’t mind my tax money going into this aid to help my neighbors.
Why is always considered a good thing to take ‘free’ money from the federal government? Asking for a friend.
What free money? Like Bank bailouts?
Agree Also, thank you Dave. So what we are essentially discussing is that children, at home in a learning environment, have no food available unless the Federal Government provides money borrowed from China. I grew up in a world where parents were responsible for their children’s welfare. I guess that world is gone and human families are no different than the animals in a zoo, dependent on the zoo keeper for food and shelter but safe. Just remember that all money from the government comes with strings. I wonder what strings are attached to this money.
Richard, many of us had a hard time of it growing up. Myself, one of two sons of a single parent Florida school teacher. I started working at 10 and have been ever since. One of those sons is the senior partner of a law firm and graduated from Harvard (he also worked since 10, was a bartender during his Harvard years). I’m now retired after spending 26 years in the Navy and obtaining 4 MS degrees. Growing up, we never took one cent of gov money just busted our backsides. You do the best you can with the cards you are dealt. Not pollyanna, rainbows, or unicorns just the facts of life, taking responsibility, and hard work. My wife grew up in a house without running water but an outhouse that was we interesting in the snow. I have a friend that had a similar situtation as you, he ran away to the circus and became a carny. Made a great life for himself. Now I volunteer my time helping others. That is what communities do (not the Federal handout).
I fear you missed my point Joe. Let me put it a different way. I have paid property taxes for over 30 years, a large portion of which goes to paying for public schools. I don’t have children, so is it fair that I pay for other people’s kids to get an education? Are they not taking a handout funded by my tax dollars? Society benefits when kids go on to become productive wage earners, successful business owners, and model citizens. I don’t begrudge any child who takes advantage of an education funded by my tax dollars and ultimately pays it forward. Just as I eventually paid it forward (and continue to do so) as the recipient of federally funded assistance as a child. And while your story is one to celebrate and be proud of, our stories are dissimilar in that you had one good parent while I had none. Over 700,000 children in Florida face hunger every day. I don’t know all their stories but I do know that having enough to eat can make the difference in how their lives eventually turn out. Blame their parents if you will, but they can have my tax dollars whether it’s to get an education or to get that next meal that their parent(s) are unwilling or are incapable of providing.