Florida House Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging him to apply for a federal program that would provide food assistance to low-income youth next summer.
The Sunshine State is one of thirteen states that sprinkled millions in federal budget for the summer EBT program that this year gave low-income families $120 for school-age children, according to the Washington Office of the State Newsroom.
Pressure from parents, hunger and children’s advocacy groups, and now Democrats, continues to grow on Florida to tell the federal government its goal to participate in the program next year, as the deadline approaches. August 15 deadline.
“Florida has an opportunity to right the egregious mistake DeSantis made in 2024 when he politicized food insecurity,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell wrote in a news release Tuesday.
“Floridians have had to suffer one political blow after another from this governor as they tried to solve their affordability crisis. Struggling families cannot be fueled by political coups and do not deserve to suffer the consequences imposed by the governor’s limited vision of freedom. In a state that supposedly prioritizes parental rights, Gov. DeSantis will have to give Floridians the freedom to access the federal benefits for which their taxes were paid.
The USDA estimates that more than 2 million young people in Florida would get about $258. 9 million in federal assistance through this program. Florida would have to fund part of the administrative costs to distribute the profits, which amount to $13 million.
by Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix August 13, 2024
Florida House Democrats sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday urging him to apply for a federal program that would provide food assistance to low-income youth next summer.
The Sunshine State is one of thirteen states that sprinkled millions in federal budget for the summer EBT program that this year gave low-income families $120 for school-age children, according to the Washington Office of the State Newsroom.
Pressure from parents, hunger and children’s advocacy groups, and now Democrats, continues to grow on Florida to tell the federal government its goal to participate in the program next year, as the deadline approaches. August 15 deadline.
“Florida has an opportunity to right the egregious mistake DeSantis made in 2024 when he politicized food insecurity,” House Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell wrote in a news release Tuesday.
“Floridians have had to suffer one political blow after another from this governor as they try to resolve their affordability crisis. Struggling families cannot feed on political blows and do not deserve to suffer the consequences imposed by the governor’s limited vision of freedom In a state that supposedly prioritizes parental rights, Governor DeSantis will have to give Floridians the freedom to access the federal benefits their taxes were paid for.
The USDA estimates that more than 2 million young people in Florida would get about $258. 9 million in federal assistance through this program. Florida would have to finance part of the administrative costs to distribute the profits, which amount to $13 million.
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Jackie graduated from the University of Richmond. She has interned at Nashville Public Radio, Virginia Public Media and Virginia Mercury.
Florida Phoenix is part of the States Newsroom, the state-focused nonprofit news organization across the country.
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