Here are a few things you might want to know about food stamps: 42 million Americans receive them. 2.9 million of them are your Florida neighbors. In Flagler County, 10 percent of the population, about 13,000 people, is on food stamps.
Nearly 70 percent are children, elderly or disabled. Only 31 percent of recipients are able, working-age adults. The overwhelming majority of those work, because $41 a week to feed someone doesn’t go much past a little bread, butter, pasta and maybe a couple of greens, unless you shop at Aldi. Then you can add a little high-fat burger meat.
So J.D. Vance bitching in his fictional memoir about “those living off government largesse” while they speak on their cell phones is, like most disdainful talking points about those who need a little help to get by, a deduction fabricated out of the shallowest observation in a neighborhood checkout line. But it is Vance’s fabrications that fuel cruelty enabling the ballroom president to shrug off negotiations with Democrats to end the shutdown in the wake of a $5 trillion tax cut primarily benefiting the rich.
There’s no question that Democrats provoked the shutdown. Unlike previous ones caused by Republicans, it’s not about an ideological Alamo no one has cared about since Reagan, like the national debt. It’s about tens of millions of Americans being able to afford health insurance so they don’t go broke when they get sick. Trump and his Republican harem in Congress refuse to extend subsidies to the Affordable Care Act to keep it affordable. They want it killed, and with it boot off its 25 million enrollees. They’re willing to let Americans go hungry over it.
The federal website for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program blares its blame of the shutdown on Democrats and claims that “They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.” Vance must be freelancing for the site.
The administration’s extrapolated mendacity aside, there is no healthcare for undocumented immigrants. (Emergency care is an exception: if you’re willing to let an undocumented Mexican child die from a ruptured appendix while the hospital receptionist checks her parents’ status with ICE, raise your hand.) The Supreme Court last June approved banning gender-affirming care for minors, to which no federal dollars are going anyway. As always, lacking moral standing, Republicans lie.
The stalemate is about to cause what may be this country’s most serious hunger crisis since the Great Depression.
The reactionary senator Josh Hawley’s bill to fund food stamps in spite of the shutdown is a clever end run around the Democrats’ strategy. It makes Republicans look responsible and muddies the Democrats’ last stand. It’s good Machiavelli. It’s another nail in the Affordable Care Act’s coffin, band-aiding the patient so he can be executed later. In any case Hawley’s bill does nothing to reverse the $186 billion cut to food stamps so the Big Beautiful Bill could partially offset those trillions in tax cuts.
Hawley’s bill also detracts from another fraud. It’s not just that Trump is deciding to deny 41 million people their food stamps while continuing to shell out billions for his paramilitary goons in ICE, for his lawless war in the Caribbean, and for his own junkets abroad and on his golf courses at home. But as with Social Security and Medicare which operate on separate, self-funded mechanisms, food stamps can still be issued. They have billions in emergency funds for situations just like this. Trump, illegally–imagine that–chooses not to release them, claiming technical difficulties.
A judge ridiculed that new lie, and today ordered the government to release the funds. The administration will doubtless appeal.
Either way, there should’ve been no question that Florida would let its 2.9 million citizens starve. The state has a $3.6 billion surplus. A month’s worth of SNAP benefits in Florida would cost half a billion dollars–$100 million less than the cost of that one concentration camp for migrants in the Everglades–and would be reimbursable. Gov. DeSantis can use his emergency powers, as he did to steal the land for the concentration camp, to put food on 2.9 million Floridians’ tables. He preferred laughing off the suggestion, and his one-party legislature isn’t about to defy him on this one. Never underestimate the ideological limits of Florida’s church-going Republicans.
Food pantries scrambled. Community efforts like Flagler Broadcasting’s WNZF’s Foodathon with Grace Food Pantry are commendable and essential. But I wish the leaders of those two organizations, David Ayres and Pastor Charles Silano, were a bit more openly vocal, more outraged at the Republican party they sympathize with. I wish they connected the dots between the mendacity and cruelty of tax cuts for the rich at the expense of health care and food aid for the poor as lines get longer at the food pantry. When I interviewed Silano in March about the USDA cancelling $1 billion in aid to food banks like his, he bent over backward not to be critical toward the administration, reminding me of Dickens’s Oliver stretching his bowl to the workhouse master.
“People being hungry is not a political thing, it’s a result of it,” David said on the radio this morning, “and I don’t care what your religion is or what your anything is, we want you to have food in Flagler County for you and your family.” To claim that it is not political but a result of it is to say the very same thing: this manufactured catastrophe is nothing but political, and playing dodge with words won’t make a difference. Nor will Democratic protests. Nor can food pantries make more than a dent in the need. As Robert De Niro put it this week, “You can’t just sit on your ass and wait for the insanity and cruelty to pass. You gotta stand up and fight.”
In Florida, it’s only when Republican loyalists in red counties like Flagler use their powerful platforms that lawmakers will be moved to act responsibly. So more power to the foodathon. But it doesn’t get at the root of the cruelty. So David and Charles–not to mention every other Republican in this one-party county–here’s to hoping you use your voices to connect those dots. Give us a little less dodge, a little less Oliver, and a bit more DeNiro.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece aired on WNZF.
Laural says
Right now, on Bloomberg, “Court orders Trump Administration to keep providing foods stamps during government shutdown.” That should make everyone happy, right? The administration wouldn’t want it any other way, would they?
Bob says
I think only congress could authorize it
Deborah Coffey says
No, Congress doesn’t need to do a thing. It’s already authorized by LAW…the LAW Donald Trump is ignoring and lying about.
Virginian says
Read the Constitution and theAntideficiency Act. The fiscal year is over. Congress needs to get off its collective butt and do something.
Deborah Coffey says
Well, I agree that Congress needs to get off its butt but, America’s most high profile lawyers and Constitutional scholars completely disagree with you. And remember, Donald Trump already did use the slush fund during his first term.
virginian says
Here is a Google AI Search in re the Executive Branch power to move funds . While some latitude exists it comes with limitation.
The President generally cannot legally exceed the executive budget or spend money that Congress has not appropriated. The U.S. Constitution grants the power of the purse exclusively to Congress, and the President is legally required to execute spending laws as passed by the legislature.
Federal law, specifically the Antideficiency Act, strictly prohibits executive branch officials from spending in excess of the amounts appropriated by Congress. Violations can result in administrative discipline and even criminal penalties.
However, there are a few legally permitted scenarios that might appear to be an exception:
Congressional Authorization: The President may spend funds beyond initial budget estimates if Congress passes specific legislation, such as supplemental appropriations bills, that provide additional funding for specific purposes, often in response to unforeseen events or emergencies.
Contingency Funds and Shifting Funds: Congress sometimes provides the President with latitude to “shift things around” or access specific contingency funds, but this authority is derived from an express or implied authorization from Congress and is not a unilateral power.
National Emergencies (Statutory Authority): While the President cannot unilaterally spend unappropriated funds even during an emergency, Congress has enacted laws that grant the executive branch specific authorities and access to funds during a declared national emergency. The President’s authority is at its maximum when acting pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress.
Impoundment Control Act (ICA) Procedures: If the President wishes to cancel or delay spending, they must follow the procedures outlined in the ICA of 1974. This involves sending a special message to Congress, which then has 45 days to approve the proposed rescission (cancellation) of funds. The President can only temporarily withhold the funds during this period; if Congress does not approve the rescission, the money must be spent as originally intended.
Historically, some presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, have ordered expenditures in advance of appropriations in extreme circumstances when the nation’s existence was at risk, an action generally seen as being based on fundamental principles of necessity rather than a clear constitutional or statutory authority. However, under modern law and court rulings, the President has no inherent constitutional power to unilaterally spend money not appropriated by Congress.
Skibum says
Just look at that photo. Drumph, the devil’s own archangel, dressed for Halloween in the perfect costume for him appearing as a human being, handing out who knows what kind of tricks for unsuspecting trick or treaters (wow, they look too old for this). Nope, no treats (SNAP funds) for the millions of food insecure families. Sorry, no affordable healthcare treats for either republican or democrats across all 50 states either.
You guessed it, folks. Only maga tricks… hidden Epstein files to prevent the rich, entitled old men who are pedophiles with tons of cash for politicians’ pockets. An absentee, convict in the WH who loves to be seen as some kind of wiz negotiator but slithers away from conflict between republi-con and democrat members of Congress who aren’t able to agree on anything and really, really need someone to bring them together to pen a deal and get our government back open and functioning for Americans.
Drumph’s Halloween ballad:
Trick or treat, smell my feet, aren’t my cankles really sweet!?
Money, money, that’s my thing, those foreign leaders give me bling!
Now I’m trashing, tearing down, the most historic structure in this whole damn town!
Babies left hungry, couldn’t care less, I’m too busy directing this big ugly mess!
Someday soon America will be mine, then people will be singing a whole new tune!
Trick or treat, smell my feet, aren’t my cankles really sweet!
Al says
When the money was needed to pay the military the democrats were outraged but to pay for the people who just hang out they’re right on top of it. A woman on TV last night said her family receives $750 a month in foodstamps, a lot of disabled people don’t get that from disability. She was easily 400 pounds so I guess her fat ass refuses to work off that fat. The democrats have provided proof that illegals get foodstamps and medical so you lefties need to drop that argument. They claim it’s not a lot just a billion or so but don’t make a $25 mistake on your taxes or your in trouble. In every crisis you find one or two exceptions like the ghetto kid who gets ahead or the illegal that need emergency care, for each of those there are 100 failures you don’t mention.
All the bleeding hearts should prove they’re serious and sell everything you own. Give that money to a NGO charity to waste for you and everyone will be happy. You’ll be happy you helped, the NGO will be happy they got more money for their directors, and the bottom feeders will be happy they got to be freeloaders a while longer. As for me I don’t give a s**t about any of your problems I’ve solved my own thru out the years and don’t need your damn government.
Can't stand it any longer says
Wow. You are not only mean-spirited but you are very narrow-minded. You have chosen to pick on food stamps, but you have no idea what the government actually does for YOU.
Concerned Citizen says
What has the government done for me? I’ll eagerly await your answer.
Went thru hard times several years ago. Was denied every avenue of help because I was honest reporting my wages. Was told I made just a little too much to get any type of assistance. So I picked up a second job to make ends meet. And to ensure that never happened again. If someone served their country honorably for 20 plus years and is honest and hard working and can’t get help. Then something is wrong with that system.
R.S. says
That’s such a silly misunderstanding of the plight of the poor. The reason for obesity is unhealthy food. Try to live among the poor; then try to find a source for healthy food within your walking range. Don’t judge unless you’ve walked a mile in their moccasins.
Independant voter says
Trump lied to his Maga supporters to lower food prices, insurance prices, gasoline prices, create more jobs. Now he wants to hold off feeding those in the State of Florida where he claims as his residence.
Watch the news of how he lavishes himself with gifts from anyone who will throw it his way for endless promises he probably will rarely keep.
Not only has he put the fear in anyone who crosses him and that includes his own administration. He has built his own army to attack anyone he orders.
This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans in the end is about who you can honestly trust as a public servant for our country.
A public servant takes an oath, and we are witnessing those oaths being broken. Don’t let that discourage you, get out vote and research who you are voting for.
Look how long Rick Scott has been a public servant, do we hear him out there fighting for the care and well-being of the people in Florida, NO.
Watch who you vote for because in the end it may harm you and your family.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
I don’t understand all of the conservative hate for people that need SNAP benefits and healthcare to support themselves while they work 40+ hour weeks in jobs unable to deliver a living wage. I’d be more furious about the seniors sitting on their asses pulling free health insurance and social security. That’s socialism right there in a nutshell, I’m sorry that you think you should be able to simply not work after a certain age and get a free ride on the taxpayer’s dollar but if I have to work a 60 hour week in order to support myself and my family then the least you can do is your fair share, the taxes I pay to support your deadbeat asses is making it hard to feed my family and all you do is sit around and complain about everyone else getting a free ride.
Ed P says
I hope confusion prompted your comment and is responsible for your resentment toward seniors. Let me enlighten you a bit.
First, most social security recipients paid into the fund their entire working career. Just like your are currently doing. Employee pays 6.2%, employer 6.2% up to a maximum, it is $176,100 for 2025. $10,918.20 potentially paid in by each the employee and $10,918.20 employer.
Medicare has a similar tax of 1.45% without wage limits. But there is an additional.9% on employee wages over $200,000 without the employer match.
Unless someone is disabled or a child survivor, they paid into the fund.
It is not a unearned system. Many people die before they collect back anything and high wage earners will never live long enough to receive back the real dollars paid in. Personally, I have to live to 126 to collect back just what I paid into the system. So should I be soured? No I was fortunate.
Just as a side note to clear up your confusion about medicare being free. High wage earners even in retirement via capital gains or mandatory RMDs pay a significant premium for what you think is “free Medicare.”
An additional $629.30 per month for Medicare A&B and $81.00 additional for plan D. Then an advantage plan is necessary to pick up all charges not paid by A,B. Hence a high income husband and wife are required to pay just over $3200 per month, $38,000+ annually mandatory- no choice. Medicare is mandatory, and I will attest not free nor cheap for everyone.
The social security system was set up to serve the median income earner and some retirees will receive more benefits than they and their employers paid in, but not everyone.
You sir are welcome. Hopefully you spend 10 minutes to check and verify and come to realize that you are not getting a raw deal.
Joe D says
Reply to Samuel B…
You CLEARLY don’t have ANY idea how retirees Social Security and Medicare are actually FUNDED do you!?!
Social Security and Medicare are not “free.”
EVERY WORKER has a Medicare line item taken out of their paycheck ( including my paychecks back to age 15, when I started my first part time job, according to my lifetime Social Security report. That covers MEDICARE PART A…for 80% of hospital and home care services ( you will qualify for it too at age 65 at no additional cost…because you already contributed your entire working life. Then I get $175 (? going up to $206 for 2026) taken out of my Social Security check every month for MEDICARE PART B…covers 80% of doctors fees and some rehab cost, etc.
There is the “option” of choosing a private MEDICARE contracted private insurance MEDICARE C…which combines A&B under one plan…and sometimes adds dental, vision , some meds and other perks…BUT you have to stay in their limited network, frequently have pre-authorization requirements before you can see any provider outside of your Primary Care Provider…you may get these services at just the cost of MEDICARE B or even less. I steer clear of these “ADVANTAGE” plans because in my opinion they are too restrictive!
Since regular Medicare A & B only cover 80% of costs…I have chosen an approved MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTAL plan …covers the 20% gap (that’s why they are sometimes called MEDIGAP plans). That COSTS ME $243/ month ( and I have to pay the first $250 (~?) each year. That will go up again in 2026 (I just don’t know how much yet).
To cover my medications, I pay for Medicare part D …an additional $61/ month and it only kicks in when I pay the first $475 (~?) each year. So far I have not had medication copays more than $475, so the insurance has essentially never paid for any of my particular meds, but some of my friends are putting out $1000-3000 per month, for required special medications ( and I never know when I will be ordered a $1000/ month prescription by my doctor(s)
So let’s add up my “Free” retirement medical care:
-Medicare A: prepaid each working paycheck throughout my work life
-Medicare B: $175/ month ($206 in 2026)
Medicare (gap) supplemental: $245/ month
Medicare D (medications): $61/ month
So my “Free” retiree Medical insurance costs me each month: $512 (+ plus whatever Medicare Part A took out of every paycheck my ENTIRE WORKING LIFE)!
So after retiring at 68, I think I’m entitled to “sit on my ass” as you define it!!! By the way, what part of my medical insurance are YOU PAYING FOR ANYWAY!?!
PS: I also paid into Social Security each and every paycheck (as do you I hope) to qualify for my so called “FREE” Social Security benefits.
MAYBE, just MAYBE you might want to know the FACTS about what you are TALKING about, BEFORE you shoot off your MOUTH about “Free retirement benefits”
Ed P says
Joe D,
WellCare has a zero premium plan D that actually pays well for tier 1 and 2 drugs. I use it because the Irma penalty pokes my eyeballs out $81/month plus any plan’s premium. Zero premium was just started last year and is available for 2026.
Maybe you can save those premium dollars.
Joe D says
I got my plan D because CVS was my “convenient” pharmacy back in my prior area and now in Flagler. Two of my friends switched to WellCare, but I just have been lazy to actually COMPARE that my individual meds are in their “formulary ” for approved meds. I also have the same medicine plan by my Supplemental insurance, so I can pay the bills all at once…(that’s not a good reason not to compare). The other thing is EVERY YEAR, the coverages of each insurance company changes, so you can’t just “set it and forget it.” I do a lot of traveling back to see family and friends out of state, so I wanted to pick a plan that didn’t limit me to a certain area to use it.
Yes the IRMMA price increase if your income in the prior 2 years is above the financial “cut off”. I had to appeal when they wanted to increase my IRMMA rate based on the salary of my full time prior years as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. I sent them EXACTLY what I was making in retirement ( well below the IRMMA higher income cut off). That IRMMA rule was QUITE A SURPRISE when I got the initial bill
Laurel says
Ed P: Thank you. We use Wellcare too, because our meds, so far, are minimal. People can go online to the Medicare site, put in their meds, and find which program is best for them.
Sherry says
Thank you so much Joe D! Perfect response. . . I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
A whole bunch of replies from entitled deadbeats looking for handouts from those of us that work hard, sucking off of the teats of socialism and complaining about other people that actually deserve help.
Ed P says
Seeing your response above, it appear more than likely, Samuel L Bronkowitz is your online persona, ie your pseudonym?
I am not trying to dox you, but you do need help.
Ps you do deserve help. Call 888-598-7985 ( mental health helpline.)
And…
386-447-4345. FTC inquire about getting your GED once your meds are properly adjusted.
Laurel says
Samuel L Bronkowitz: You are wrong, period. Just your mouthing off does not erase all my years of working and paying into the system, as much as you would like to suck on the teats of your false beliefs. Suck on your thumb while you at it.
All my life, I have tried to be understanding of how difficult it can be to be old. I have held doors. I have carried packages. I have held umbrellas. I have kept my mouth shut while my patience was tested. I have tried to help in many different ways. Now that I’m here, I am incredibly disappointed how many selfish, uneducated people there are around me. Crying how unfair life is towards them.
Shame on you if you are young and strong, and attacking your seniors! Our society is simply going to shit with the incredible selfishness being displayed.
Good luck when you are here, because you are teaching your young how to see you some day! And I’d bet, right now, that you sit on your ass more than I do.
Sherry says
WOW! Samuel, you sound so incredibly angry. Why are you lashing out at that those of us who worked really hard our entire adult lives, and were “required” to pay “INTO” Medicare and Social Security in each and every paycheck? I personally began those payments at age 17! We are most certainly NOT “entitled deadbeats”!
There must be something really terrible happening in your life right now. For that you have my compassion. I’m hoping that things get better for you. It does not help you in any way to speak in such a mean and hurtful way towards others. We are all doing the best we can in a situation that is becoming more difficult in many different ways.
Whatheheck says
This comment prove you can’t reach a troll with his fingers in his ears. I pity him.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Every single person triggered by my original post that has issues with people receiving SNAP and other social services that enable others to survive, congrats. You were just on the receiving end of the same horseshit you spew, and unlike people getting SNAP there’s a damn good argument that *you* are the expendable ones.
Skibum says
Al, just one question if I may. Was that drivel you wrote above an actual comment, or your job application to be Steven Miller’s underling in drumph’s naziesque and corrupt administration? I think you just may have the job!
Mmm Kay Kay says
Trump didn’t dress up in the traditional white hood? He opted for the red maga hat huh? Things must be pretty bad in his world to not dress up in his work attire and instead don his usual outfit.
Michael J Cocchiola says
Trump fiddles while America burns.
R.S. says
Just for the record, Coach: Unlike T-Rump, Nero didn’t set the blaze; it came from the Christian quarters–as forensic archeology has found. They wanted to compel their eschatology. But i certainly agree with the spirit of your comment.
Concerned Citizen says
This comment section is a clear indication of what is wrong with our country.
Instead of uniting like previous generations did in hard times. We result to name calling and insults when we can’t debate properly. This is why politicians are robbing us blind. We won’t stand up for ourselves and demand change. We are to busy looking for someone else to do it.
Land of no turn signals says says
Food is so expensive because 42 Million people get it for free.
Jay Tomm says
This is all the DEMS FAULT. They planned to use the government shutdown for months. They said it openly! THEY are to blame for this mess. Really it’s wrong on BOTH sides, but the DEMS are the ones using this as a barging tactic. NO GOVERNMENT SHOULD WORK THIS WAY!
R.S. says
Jay Tomm, the current president blamed the president for failing to negotiate his way out of the shutdown when Biden was president. I saw the interview. Trump speaks as the wind blows: this way or that, contradictions and all. I just marvel about how little you MAGAs listen to what he is actually saying!!!
Skibum says
Jay Tomm, the democrats in Congress have learned their lesson, having first hand experience with lies from congressional republicans who promised one thing, and then after dems capitulated in an effort to negotiate they were spit on and laughed at. Republicans thought dems would be morons once again and do what they did before, cave in to keep the government open while the maga republicans decimate healthcare for average Americans so they can give their billionaire friends more tax cuts.
THIS time, republicans have been shocked that dems are continuing to stand firm, and the polling shows the result. Far more Americans are putting the blame on drumph and the republicans. Republicans may have the WH and the majority in both houses of Congress right now, but this situation shows democrats still have enough seats in Congress to force republicans to NEGOTIATE with them, which up to this point they have flatly refused to do, and that is why we are in this shutdown… the republicans, supported by the felon president, refuse to negotiate an end to the shutdown. The house speaker sent his GOP members home and they have had an extended six week vacation, a PAID vacation instead of being in D.C. trying to come together with other members to negotiate and end this unnecessary stalemate.
What does that tell you when the dem house members are the ONLY ones still in D.C., sitting there trying to convince their republican contingent to return to their workplace to resolve the dispute? The American public are suffering while republican house members are absent from their jobs! No, you are very, very wrong. The dems are NOT at fault for this shutdown, and most Americans see that and disagree with your take on who is responsible!