Hi Friends,
At 12:01 a.m. this morning, the federal government shut down. Let’s be clear about why: President Trump and Republicans in Congress chose to slash health care, food assistance, and essential programs for millions of working people in order to give $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to the rich.
They forced this shutdown because they’d rather protect massive tax giveaways for billionaires and corporations than protect the programs American families rely on to simply survive.
And Florida is at the center of it.
Health Care on the Chopping Block
Florida leads the nation in Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment. Nearly 5 million Floridians get their health insurance through the ACA. That’s more than any other state in the country.
Now, thanks to the increased costs Republicans pushed through in their Big Shitty Bill this summer, almost half of these Floridians could lose health care coverage entirely. And it’s not just premiums—cuts to Medicaid could mean two rural hospitals closing their doors and about 50,000 health care jobs disappearing in a state already struggling with a shortage of doctors and nurses.
It’s so messed up that people across political lines are speaking up, even here in Florida. Groups like “Florida Conservatives for Affordable Health Care” are pushing to protect Obamacare premium credits — because when they take away health care, everyone feels it.
This literally could have all been avoided. All of us could have everything we need to live our best lives if we just made rich people and corporations pay what they owe in taxes like the rest of us. Period.
Instead, Republicans passed a $4.5 trillion tax giveaway to the rich and are holding the rest of us hostage.
Florida’s FEMA Deadline
As if that weren’t enough, yesterday—September 30th—was also the alleged date set for FEMA to reimburse Florida for the makeshift detention camp Governor Ron DeSantis decided to build in the Everglades.
Remember: back in July, DeSantis fronted $450 million of OUR money—Floridian taxpayer money taken from an Emergency Preparedness and Response, money meant to rebuild our homes, repair roads and bridges, and keep us safe after storms — to instead cage our friends and neighbors in a swamp, in the middle of hurricane season.
Let that sink in.
DeSantis has completely disregarded the fact that most Floridians do not f*** with taxpayer dollars being used this way, and instead promised over and over again that we’d be reimbursed with FEMA dollars, disaster money that should also be used to keep our communities safe after storms.
Well, the September 30 deadline has come and gone, and that money’s nowhere to be seen.
On top of that, through this detention camp in the Everglades it’s come to light how millions of our tax dollars have been funneled to GOP donors through no-bid contracts. There’s two names that keep coming up: Miami socialites Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, longtime Republican donors, have made millions from these contracts through their company CDR and its affiliates. They are textbook disaster capitalists—cashing in on human suffering and using our tax dollars to bankroll their luxury lifestyles.
What This All Comes Down To
Today and everyday really is about money.
Our tax dollars should buy us freedom—freedom to rebuild after a storm, freedom to get the health care we need, freedom to pursue our dreams. Instead, corporate funded politicians are funneling our money into billionaire tax cuts, the disappearance of our neighbors, and the luxury lifestyles of corporate CEOs.
The GOP priorities couldn’t be clearer:
If you’re a billionaire or a corporation, Republicans will blow up the national debt and gut essential programs to give you a tax cut.
If you’re a working parent, a small business owner, or a nurse on the night shift—they’ll shut down the government to block what’s yours.
Floridians can’t afford another day of this. We deserve better. We deserve leaders who will put people over profits and ensure our tax dollars actually come back to us in the form of care, safety, and freedom.
And until then, it’s on us to keep naming what’s happening and demanding better—because this we deserve what’s ours. This is OUR cash.
Onwards and upwards,
Your Friends at Florida For All
