MIAMI — Federal food assistance hung in the balance on Friday, but emergency court rulings kept SNAP food aid benefits flowing ahead of a possible freeze due to the government shutdown.
With the safety net at risk, many Americans braced for the worst. Here in South Florida, local food pantries stepped up to fill the gap.
Friday’s rulings ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for November’s SNAP benefits. But no one’s really sure how much funding will be available or for how long.
Local 10 News spoke to U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, moments after the judge’s ruling. She filed a bill to find funds to carry SNAP through the government shutdown.
“The Dems in the Senate could have made things a lot easier,” Salazar said. “Sit down, go back to work. Let’s sit at the table. Let’s negotiate and let’s vote on something that’s good for 27. That’s the only thing I think about.”
Salazar represents a portion of a county ― Miami-Dade ― where nearly a quarter of the population is on SNAP: more than 577,000 people.
In Broward, 13% of the population ― more than 250,000 people ― receive SNAP benefits. In the Florida Keys, 7% of the population, a little less than 6,500 people, receive SNAP.
Staff at the Jewish Community Services Kosher Food Bank in North Miami Beach, which has been around for 15 years, said the need for assistance exploded within the last week.
“I think the stress level for people is really high,” Bonnie Schwartzbaum, the food bank’s director, said. “They’re already panicking about what they’re going to do to feed their children.”
For now, Marty Heiman, a retired full-time volunteer on a fixed income, is recalculating and bracing.
“What I can get, what I can’t get, what I can do, what I can’t do,” he said. “It affects everybody.”
“If you want to eat?” Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg asked.
“If I want to eat,” Heiman said.
The emergency funding released Saturday, presumably nationwide, is just short of $6 billion.
The need to reload November’s SNAP cards nationwide is $8 billion, so that very tough math shows this crisis is not over.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
