Gov. Ron DeSantis feels there is no "state of emergency for food" because of SNAP cuts and takes things into his own hands. Why DeSantis Isn’t Declaring a Food Emergency, Even as SNAP Payments Stall, November 4, 2025, Atlantic Insider
Florida’s governor isn’t budging.
As federal food assistance stalls amid the government shutdown, nearly three million Floridians are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits, yet Gov. Ron DeSantis is rejecting calls to declare a state emergency. His reasoning? In his view, the blame for the shortfall lies squarely in Washington, not Tallahassee.
“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 this week, brushing off the request as political theater.
Behind the scenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said payments would be frozen starting November 1. Two federal judges have since ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to keep the program afloat, though the administration only committed to partial payments for now.
For Florida, where roughly one in eight residents depends on SNAP and where 60 percent of recipients are families with children, that uncertainty hits hard.
Democrats in the state legislature have urged DeSantis to step in, writing in a letter that “no child should go hungry because politicians in Washington can’t agree.” But the governor appears content to let federal and judicial forces play out.
Instead, he’s pointing to the state’s agriculture department, which he says “will be doing more” to assist families. The specifics remain murky. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, for his part, touts the Farmers Feeding Florida initiative, a program launched earlier this year to divert unmarketable produce and other local goods to food banks. So far, it has distributed about 3.8 million pounds of food, from dairy to seafood to peanut butter.
The Legislature earmarked $28 million to run that program and another $10 million to expand food bank infrastructure. Yet a spokesperson for DeSantis confirmed Florida hasn’t dipped into any emergency reserves to address the SNAP gap.
It’s a contrast to other states facing the same federal freeze. In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has already mobilized the National Guard to prepare for food distribution and pledged up to one million dollars in state-matched funds for food banks. Democratic-led states like Massachusetts and Minnesota have funneled millions into similar efforts.
DeSantis seems to be drawing a political line, avoiding any move that could be seen as creating a state-level version of a federal welfare program. The question is whether that stance will hold if the shutdown drags on and Floridians begin to feel the crunch.
