The Florida Roundup - Florida and the government shutdown, a new book on voting rights in the state and PolitiFact

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke to former U.S. representatives Stephanie Murphy and Carlos Curbelo, of the Center Aisle Coalition, to discuss the government shutdown and its effect on Florida (00:19). We took listener calls and emails on the topic— specifically on how the battle over Affordable Care Act subsidies could affect Floridian's healthcare coverage. Then, we sat down with WLRN reporter and author, Daniel Rivero, to discuss his new book on the decades-long voting rights battle in the state (24:45). And we checked in with PolitiFact’s Samantha Putterman for a claims check (37:30).

The Florida Roundup is sponsored by Covering Florida Navigator Program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-92115 or coveringflora.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along this week. For the fourth time in a dozen years, the federal government is officially closed. It does not have the approved money to run normally. Now many Republicans and Democrats blame the other for the government shutdown. Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recorded this video Tuesday after

the House was in session for just three minutes. Democrats are here ready to work. Republicans are on vacation and they will own the shutdown and the increased health care costs. We're not going to stand for it. Tampa area Republican Congresswoman Anna Polina Luna went on Fox Tuesday night, just hours before the shutdown, pointing to Democrats. in the Senate for not passing a temporary spending plan and voicing her support for President

Donald Trump's efforts to cut spending during the shutdown. This is going to be making lemonade out of lemons. They got us here. And frankly, I think that the president is well overdue for making those promises to the American people and delivering on that in regards to really bringing in some of the inflated government. Now, Democrats have rallied around calls to extend the enhanced subsidies for Obamacare health insurance premiums.

Millions of Floridians rely on Obamacare for their health capital. Democrat Darren Soto appeared on Fox 35 in Orlando Tuesday night. So this is a high stakes issue for Florida because Obamacare's wildly popular here with so many small business owners and independent contractors. Republicans say they will negotiate over the health insurance subsidies, but only after Democrats agree to a short-term plan to keep spending the same through November 21st. Now Tuesday night, Republican Congresswoman Kat McCamick from North Central Florida recorded a social media video on the steps of the Capitol in Washington. Senate Democrats decided, nope, they wanted a whole shitload of things. And she finished her video expressing something that is probably shared by Republicans, Democrats, and independent voters alike. I don't know about you, but it is exhausting.

This continued political brinksmanship where the country is always seemingly put last. That is what we are seeing. And I am absolutely exhausted by it. Yet here we are, a government shutdown. political territories and policies are clearly staked out public polling is coming in about who voters blame Republicans and Democrats are at odds over the federal budget and at the center are billions of dollars that millions of Floridians used to help pay for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. So do you rely on Obamacare for your health care coverage? How much do you pay today? Is the battle worth shutting down the federal government over?

And where is there common ground? call us now 305-9-9-8-100 305-9-9-8-100 your calls in a moment you can email us radio at the florida roundup dot org radio at the florida roundup dot org carlos cobello was a republican congressman in the miami area stephanie murphy was a democratic representative from the orlando area they have teamed up for the center aisle coalition carlos and stephanie thanks so much for joining us again on our program Carlos, let me start with you, since the Republicans are the majority and in control of the legislature and the administration here. The GOP position is that it's fighting to return to what the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is called the regular appropriations process. And I think he means that spending bills go through the congressional process instead of just a continuing resolution vote.

Republicans say, just give us seven more weeks and we'll get there. How do you see the stakes for Floridians in these seven weeks? I really do hope that they get back to what typically we call in Congress regular order, which is a process where we actually build the federal budget in a collaborative way, in a bipartisan manner, with an fairly open amendment process in both chambers. That has not happened for a very long time under either party's leadership. So with regards to the shutdown, look, my experience, centrist voters, swing voters don't like this business of a government shutdown.

I think right now, congressional Republicans probably have the upper hand because they are making what I think is a fairly reasonable request. This is a clean CR. We're not trying to insert any Republican policy priorities into it. We just want to extend government funding for seven weeks, at which point Democrats would have the same leverage they have now. think that if President Trump starts to indiscriminately fire federal workers, and that has an impact on government services and on the stability of the economy and the federal government,

then Democrats can all of a sudden find themselves in a stronger political position. But at the end of the day, everyone loses here. So this is bad news. Stephanie, what is the risk if Democrats agree to the CR, the continuing resolution for seven more weeks to iron out the normal process for budgetary compromise and then have the debate about negotiations regarding the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. While I agree with Carlos that we should return to regular order, we haven't actually seen that in over a decade in Congress. Last time the spending bills were passed in a regular order was in the mid-2010s, and that was because they had passed a no-budget, no pay.

So basically, members of Congress wouldn't get paid if they didn't do their job. And unfortunately, that provision doesn't exist anymore. From a practical matter for Floridians, what Democrats are trying to do is to ensure that the subsidies for health care aren't eliminated. In Florida, that has a significant impact because I believe we are one of the states with the highest number of people enrolled in the exchanges. And without extending those or without any guarantees that they'll extend those, there'll be millions of Floridians who will see their health insurance premiums go up. And I think that's what the Democrats are trying to fight for in

this moment. What's the risk, though, of negotiating that in November under a continuing resolution so that the government remains open between now and November? I think, Given the way that the Republicans have wielded power, given that they have all levers of government, gives Democrats very little comfort that they'll be able to negotiate on these health care tax extensions or health care subsidy extensions. In fact, what the Republican Party has done since taking power is to take away people's benefits. And so the Democrats don't feel as if they negotiated this in the regular way that they will actually achieve the outcome that protects the American people's health care. We got an email from our listener, John, who agrees with you, Stephanie.

John wrote, the shutdown is a legitimate reason to help save subsidies, which is the only reason many families can afford any kind of health care these days. John writes, the GOP could at least agree to discuss now. The fear is that if they don't, they will do the same thing when the temporary budget extension ends, ignore the issue. Carlos, what kind of assurances could Republicans give now in order to find compromise, time, open the government and kind of assure Democrats and Democratic voters that the enhanced subsidies will be negotiated. Well, I think leader Thune has been pretty open about his willingness to do this.

John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, he has on numerous television interview just expressed an openness and a willingness to negotiate this with Democrats. Republicans do want to see some reforms to the program. They believe that there's waste and abuse. That's fine. So look, I think the assurances are there. I think the greater issue is that there is no trust in Washington, D.C., in either direction. And for good reason.

And there's also little political incentive to negotiate. There's little political incentive to take reasonable positions, like say, hey, we won't do a seven-week extension, but we'll do a four-week extension. government funding and you know during that month we we hope to negotiate a compromise on these a ca tax credits that's that's something that a functional trust-based political system would yield but that just doesn't exist right now and on top of it all of this underscores the the importance of political base politics these days democrats need to show a fight and then on the Republican side, the Republican base doesn't, has no interest in seeing their party and negotiate with Democrats. So that's the dynamic right now. Of course, there are centrists and swing voters

who will decide who controls Congress next year. I think those are the people we need to focus on because they're going to end up making the difference. We know where all the base voters are going to line up next fall. Both of you were in Congress during the last shutdown in 2019. It was the longest one, 35 days. Stephanie, what did you hear from your constituents during that shutdown and how did it shape your approach? You know, no American wants to see their government this dysfunctional. And I think what ended up happening in the last shutdown, the longest one in history, it ended only after air traffic controllers who had gone to work for weeks unpaid, just stopped showing up for work. The sick out? Yeah, they did. They called in sick. And it's

started to shut down airports because they didn't have enough staff. And that's the only reason that the shutdown ended. And that shutdown ended with the Republicans not getting what they wanted. They just finally got to a point where they had to capitulate. So it underscores why shutdowns really aren't useful legislating tools. The parties don't tend to get what they want. It's that when you have public safety issues and shutdown starts to really affect the American people. That's when Washington finally blinks.

Yeah, Stephanie, let me ask you about that because President Trump has called this shutdown a quote, unprecedented opportunity in reference to making big cuts to what he has called Democratic agencies. He hasn't further defined what he means by that. And he's threatened to lay off federal workers. He's stopped billions of dollars of federal funding for infrastructure projects already. Stephanie, do you think Democrats have handed this so-called opportunity to the president? Well, it is unprecedented in the sense that we've never had a White House that distinguishes between red states and blue states. You know, long are the days that we're not red states or blue states, we're the United States of America. And so to see this

White House decide to weaponize the standoff to further their goal of gutting the federal government just shows that they're willing to use federal workers as pawns in political fights. And I think that that's really problematic at a time when there have already been so many attacks on federal workers and created so much uncertainty for that workforce. This is just yet another moment where they are being used as pawns and their futures uncertain. And behind every term federal workers, actually a family, a person who's trying to provide for their family, they're real human consequences of these political fights. Carlos, how do the party leaders negotiate in good faith?

That phrase comes up here again with these types of presidential comments. It's difficult. It's difficult. But at the end of the day, even though President Trump sees it this way, I really don't think that Speaker Johnson and the leader Thune see it in the same way. I know them both. Stephanie knows them both. It becomes harder every day, work to reach consensus. And I don't doubt that's going to happen eventually. The question is how much pain are we going to endure? And as Stephanie says, this is this is all bad. Like, you know, the White House celebrating, you know, the executive branch celebrating that. they essentially cannot operate, that they cannot serve the country. It's just a horrible way to run the most important entity in the world. Who makes the first step toward the other party here, Carlos and Stephanie? And Carlos, I'll start with you. Who makes that first step toward that center aisle that the two of you are trying to encourage? I think the party that feels the most

pressure and it's still early. So I think both parties are going to let this play out and see how the public responds and what the media response is like, what the coverage is like. But once one party or the other feels that they are at a disadvantage, or if there's a forcing event like the air traffic controllers that Stephanie referenced, then that will be the incentive to come to the table with some sort of compromise. Stephanie, how do they do that? What if and when that moment comes. How is that branch extended into the center aisle? I think that it procedurally has to be initiated by the Republicans because they control all levers of power. They set the agenda. They call the votes. They are able to, you know, they have the pen in many ways on adjusting

whatever the solution is. And so they would need to make those decisions and then put the solution up for a vote. So I think procedurally, a lot of this lays within the hands of the Republicans. Tom, let me add, we should watch out for senators like Chris Coons of Delaware, Democrats, Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican. Sometimes it's the centrist senators and less often House members who will come forward and say, we have a compromise, we will deliver the votes for this compromise. And that can sometimes trigger a solution to all of this. So there are fewer and centrist and consensus builders in Congress with each passing Congress, but there are still enough of them to save us from these types of situations. Carlos, you would also note that there are

two House members who have elections coming, you know, ballots are in the mailbox. for Virginia, New Jersey, for two House members, E. Cheryl and Abigail Spanberger. And so their voices in this will probably also be important. It's quite amazing of 535 individuals who would vote on this. We can name by name those that may be able to tip things one way or the other that shows just how tight that is in Washington. And Carlos and Stephanie to some of the earlier points,

for Floridians who see themselves as political moderates, or even NPA's independence, Carlos, what should they be thinking about? What could they do at this time during a government shutdown? Well, I think probably the most important thing you can do is reach out to your member of Congress and encourage them to reach a solution, reject the talking points because I think either side, you call any of these offices, people are going to tell you, well, it's the Republican, and they say, well, it's the Democrats. So you kind of toss out aside and say, we don't, you know, we're not interested in who's faulted

as we wanted to get fixed. And then, you know, of course, these days we all have a, we all have a bullhorn on social media. So anything we can do to just shape the political environment and bring it to a better place. I think that's, you know, every, everything can, every, every action is a contribution. I would just plead with folks to stick to the facts. You can certainly have an opinion, but try to stick to the facts and anything in social media and look at the other messages with a bit of a skeptical eye as well. Stephanie, how about your thoughts on what kind of those centrist, moderate NPA Floridians can do in this time?

I agree with Carlos. You know, you should reach out to your member of Congress, to your senators. And then when you reach out to them, share personal stories. Share what this means. What does the shutdown mean to you and your family? What does the potential loss of health care mean to you and your family? And I think those personal stories, helps to pierce the political brinksmanship veil, so to speak, so that people in Washington can see that their actions have a real-life effect on the people that they represent, and hopefully that will incentivize them to act with some urgency to get this resolved. Stephanie and Carlos, thanks so much for your time.

We appreciate you helping us navigate this moment for us. Great to be with you. Pleasure. Thank you. Stephanie Murphy is a Democrat who represented the Orlando area in Congress, and Carlos Cobello was a Republican representing the South Florida area at the U.S. Capitol. Both are members of the Center Isle Coalition. Now, we have heard from you and some of your personal stories during this government shutdown. Kim sent us this email.

Why aren't the Democrats pointing out that the other party has not negotiated a single thing since Trump took over? I heard the MAGA representatives say the time to negotiate policy is in November. Ahem. Kim writes, what then was the big ugly bill if, not policy. They didn't negotiate on that either. Kim finishes writing their words, and $7.50 will buy you a cup of coffee, not relief from skyrocketing insurance premiums. Larry and Boca Raton emailed us, my wife has been in charge of making health insurance decisions for the last 10 years through Obamacare. I'm 57. She's 51. Our current plan is really inexpensive, maybe $300 a month. Larry says, I love it. There's no co-pay when I see my primary care doctor, which is every three

months. We're both very athletic and in good shape. When I had meniscus surgery, that's knee surgery, it was fantastic, Larry Wright. It's a fantastic doctor, highly rated, wonderful facility. It would be unfortunate, but not surprising if that policy's premium were to double. Fortunately, we have the means to adapt should that occur. Let us know what you think, the impact on your life from this government shutdown on your community, on your family, radio at the florida roundup.org. Radio at the florida roundup dot org a little later on in the program we're going to put some of the claims over the government shutdown to our politifact partner that's coming up later this hour i'm tom hudson you're listening to the florida roundup from your florida public radio station

the florida roundup is sponsored by covering florida navigator program providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace assistance is at 877-813-921-15 or covering Florida.org. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along next week on our program Shelling. The pastime and sometimes obsessions of searching for seashells here in Florida. It's very therapeutic. Nature doesn't think, right? We think. And nature just is. And I find that when we're close to nature, it's a very spiritual experience. So for me, it was very much, you know, being able to be close with nature and to stop thinking. Stop thinking while

shelling. That's Jamie Winterstern. He's a film director who made a documentary about sea shelling on Sanibel Island. That's what it started out to be. And then Hurricane Ian hit the area. And while it washed ashore new shells, the storm also caused havoc for many of the people who relied on it for their pastimes and livelihoods. So that's next week. Are you a sheller? Do you bring a bucket or a mesh bag with you to the beach to comb through the shells? Maybe you shop and buy shells.

Share your story with us. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. That's next week on our program. Today it is the government shutdown in Florida. We have Anna on the line in St. Petersburg, line four. Anna, thank you so much for your patience. You are now on the radio.

Yes, hi. Thank you for saying my call. I am currently covered in the Obama care, and my insurance will go up substantially, like more than double. I am an independent, and frankly, I am definitely siding with finding an agreement on the side of the Democrats this time, because I don't see any alternatives in the marketplace that, would provide a reliable medical insurance that allows to cover catastrophic situation thank goodness in my family my son and I are in good health but you know we had this year a major jaw surgery and it was covered with the exception of the deductible we which we were ready to pay with great care great hospital great professional it happened we have to have it. So, you know, these things happen. Yeah, Anna, my best on the recovery from the surgery, and I thank you for sharing your story from St. Pete. Nina sent us this email. I'm

an independent contractor and rely on the health care subsidy. My health insurance is for a bronze plan, $460 a month with the subsidy, Nina writes. I just looked up my offer for next year, which would be $1,140 a month with no subsidy. I will have to go without health insurance at this price. I do not want the Democrats to give in on this. Nina writes us. Andre has been patient in Tampa. Go ahead. Andre, your turn. You're on the radio. I have a long-time listener. I'm actually sitting here right now here at my therapist office and Tampa at Seven Summit Pathways. And there's no way I would be able to afford this without the subsidies. I got a great plan. My plan is $153 with the subsidies and only $1,800.

out of pocket. It's one of the best plans out there that I have. And there's no way without the subsidies, this is going to hurt people. And it's time now that the Democrats stand up for voters. And what are the, what are the, what are the Republicans really fighting for here? Why does every single time that we take away from something, we have to take away from voters, we have to take away from the public. We can cut somewhere else.

The question is, we can, the question is not, not cutting, but why do we have to? have to cut this. Yeah, Andre, we hear you from Tampa. Thank you very much for lending your voice to the conversation, echoing what we heard from the Republican, Carlos Cabello, in the last segment, talking about Democrats need to show a fight there. Andre is plus one on that. Let's go to Dylan, who's been patient in Newport Richie. Dylan, it's your turn. You're on the radio. Hi, Tom. Thanks for taking my call. My big thing about this is the political theater at all. It's they had, the Republicans had ample opportunity all the way up into this 11th hour of this continuing resolution to engage the Democrats to, uh, to find a compromise or negotiate or

something, but instead they waited until the absolute last second and said, you must sign on to this or else and they put on all this doom and gloom. And now that it's shut down, here comes the doom and gloom. It's all the Democrats fault. All the government websites are saying it's the Democrats' fault. People's out-of-office messages are being changed to. It's the Democrat's fault. But they made no attempt to even go to the Democrats until the absolute 11th hour. So whose fault is it really? Dylan, thanks for your perspective there from Newport Richie. You can share your thoughts. Our inbox is always open. Radio at the florida roundup.org. In 2018, Florida voters added about 60 words to the state constitution.

Those words were aimed to restore the right to vote for most felons in Florida, potentially adding over one million people to the voter rolls. Clarence's office was one of those who registered to vote in 2019. It had been 13 years after he had pled guilty to a felony. It's like, for me, it's like a sense of renewal. It's just a simple thing of being able to vote. It's a big thing for me. Anthony Bouchel had not been able to vote since the 1990s when he was convicted of a drug possession.

He also was early to register when that amendment took effect. I wanted to do my part as soon as possible versus having a wait and seeing how things go. Put my name in the beginning. Now on that January day, almost seven years ago, optimism was running high in the election supervisor's office in Miami-Dade County and across Florida. Felons who had completed their sentences were coming in. Lorenzo was one of those. He was calling friends and telling them the address of the voter registration office. It feels great.

It feels outstanding. Any election that's coming up, I'm going to be a participant. More people in Florida than any other state could not vote because of a felony conviction. And the few dozen words that were added to the Constitution seven years ago was supposed to change that. Wow. I think this is the largest extension of the right to vote in America since the 1920 extension of the right to vote to vote. women and the constitutional amendment that extended the right to vote to people who are 18 years old. That's Howard Simon, the day after Election Day in 2018. Back then, he was the executive

director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which helped sponsor the amendment. Desmond Mead led the effort to add the words to the Constitution. It tore down that Jim Crow wall and created another avenue that American citizens could take to be able to participate in a elections without having to go and beg a politician for that right. Now, before the amendment, it was up to four people in Florida, whether or not a felon who had completed their sentence could regain their right to vote, the governor, the chief financial officer, the attorney general, and the agriculture commissioner. But voters approved the language to restore the right to vote to most felons, quote,

upon completion of all terms of sentence, including parole and probation. And seven years ago, Simon of the ACLU figured that phrase was perfectly clear. This language is as clear as it could be and as self-executing. It says that voting rights shall be restored. I don't know what is unclear about that. Except it wasn't that easy. Dennis Baxley was the Republican chair of the Senate's Ethics and Elections Committee in 2019. It can be very clear what to implement, but then it can be unclear how do you go about actually delivering

on that implementation. What did it mean for a felon to complete all terms of a sentence? Neil Volz was the political director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a group that campaigned for the amendment. Amendment 4 is very clear that when you've completed all portions of your sentence, you're eligible to vote. The fight to automatically restore the right to vote to most felons was not over by a long shot. It would be fought in court over what it means to complete a felony sentence. And how does someone convicted of a felony in Florida check to see if they are eligible to vote again. You can call us 305-9-5-1800. 305-9-5-1800. It's restoration of voting rights for felons in Florida. Danny Rivera chronicles this journey in his book, Just Freedom, Inside Florida's

decades-long voting rights battle. And he's a colleague with me here at our partner station, WLRN, in Miami. Danny, welcome to the program as a guest. Good to be on this side of it. Nice to have you. So what does it mean today here in 2025, as we're talking, to complete a felony sentence in Florida to be eligible to vote? Well, it means if you had any prison time, you have to serve your sentence, any probation. And the additional part of it where a lot of this confusion came around is it also means paying any fines connected to that case, any fees, court costs, restitution, kind of any financial obligation, with the exception of interest payments if it went to collections. As long as you don't have to pay everything owed if it went to

interest, it's just like the dollar amount that was that was tacked onto it if you put it all together. In 2001, as you tell in the book, there was a bill that would have restored voting rights in Florida one year after a felon completed, quote, all non-monetary conditions in their sentence. That was part of that legislative language now almost 25 years ago. Why didn't that language find its way into the constitutional amendment in 2018? You know, when the groups that got this on the ballot and gathered the signatures for it and whatnot, when they were doing studies and polling about the kind of language that people would support, they found that adding that would draw down just a tiny percentage of the support that might threaten.

It was still over the 60% that they needed, but it would just be a few percentage points down. So they changed the language to say all terms of the sentence, just blanket, don't specify financial, non-financial, monetary, non-monetary. And that left this little bit of ambiguity into it. And that's where all the drama unfolded after it passed. A little bit of ambiguity and an enormous gap in implementation here and interpretation. Right. And it became, you know, I mean, this is something that took place over several years. It was a profoundly confusing period of time for someone with the felony conviction in the state of Florida because you had court orders, you had reversals.

I mean, I talked to people for this book that gained the right to vote, lost the right to vote, gain the right to vote, flip flopping back and forth. And at the end of the process, not even the end of the process, by the middle of the process, people were just scared. Yeah. You had people that were eligible to vote and they didn't want to run the risk. about it, around it, because there was so much confusion about what it meant and how to check your status, et cetera. So how does a felon who has completed their prison sentence, their parole, any probation, how do they find out if they're eligible to register to vote and to actually cast a ballot in Florida

now? You know, it's about seven years, no, six years after a federal court case, the state and the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition had a mediation because the state was sued because of all this confusion. They were getting questions like, am I eligible? Am I not? People couldn't figure it out. So just very late last year, the state and entered into a mediation, and there is actually a form now on the state division of elections website. You can fill it out, just ask, am I eligible to vote? in the state has 90 days to tell you in concrete terms, yes, you are eligible to vote or no. So a lot of people don't even know that exists.

I just looked it up. 52 people have used it across the entire state this year, which is an incredibly low amount. But, you know, the last opinion that was issued was just a few days ago by the state. And that person could vote. 52 who have utilized this process that has been put in place now six years. after the initiation of the lawsuit, eight years after more than five million Floridians voted in favor

of essentially automatic restoration of voting rights for most felons who have completed their sentences. 52 people this year. And I just want to underscore there are thousands upon thousands, upon probably hundreds of thousands of people that could

put in these requests. And they haven't been putting in their requests. I don't think a lot of people know that it exists. So this, if we go back to 2016 and 2017, as you chronicle in the book, this was purposely a nonpartisan issue. In fact, the organizers of this Amendment 4, as it was called back then, really were publicly allergic to political endorsements, frankly. They banned politicians from speaking at any rallies. I mean, it was outright, I would call it transpartisan.

It was not even bar partisan. It was all of the above. How did this become then a political issue after Floridians pass this with a pretty significant margin of victory? You know, a lot of it comes down to the Republican Party of Florida never took an issue on this. In fact, it had a lot of support from Republicans to get it across the line. There was over 65% of voters passed this more than any politician in that election. By far the most popular thing on the ballot. but in response to this there was a very sharp partisan divide Democrats by and large favored a more lenient process or a definition of what it means to complete the all turns of a sentence and Republicans down the line chose essentially the most restrictive version of the definition of completing your sentence that they could as I outline in the book I'm not just saying this right there were

many options on the table. They chose the most restrictive version of it that they possibly could. So coming out of that, it did become somewhat of a partisan issue. You write in the book, quote, Florida didn't have to be like this. It didn't have to reflect the worst cliches of the south of the thinly cloaked racism, playing games with the right to political representation, the weaponization of the state bureaucracy. Where do you think the balance is between restoring the civil right of voting and ensuring election integrity? Frankly, I think voters said their piece on that. I mean, this effort to make these electoral reforms and bring people back into the fold was the backlash to what happened under the administration of Governor Rick Scott.

And it was, I mean, I watched some of those meetings. It was painful to see how politicians treated people coming before them. This was the cabinet of Florida, the four individuals who had the power to restore. felons voting rights. Exactly. It was, it was completely up to just personal opinion. There was no guardrails. There was no guidelines, et cetera. So people banded together, truly grassroots effort and said, let's take the politicians out of this. And, you know, after the fact, politicians found their way back into it. But it was really, I think voters and Floridians have largely spoken on that. So what about the journey of this effort to restore voting rights to most

felons in Florida. What does that tell us about voting rights here in the Sunshine State today? You know, I think a lot of people wish it was something that was not political because it's just do you have a voice in the political system or not? But it is profoundly political. And questions of everything about voting, it's about the, you know, how many early election days do you have? Are college campuses allowed to be used as polling locations? vote by mail vote by mail I mean these are these have all become very partisan issues and we see that in the history of this issue it's more or less depending on what administration what the political tone of the country is these things ebb and flow back

and forth and it is extremely political even though it's you know there's a there's a conception for a lot of people that this mostly impacts black Americans which means it's mostly Democrats. That is wrong. Yeah. Yeah, you lay that out with great detail in the book. It's a terrific piece of reporting, a great narrative, Just Freedom by Danny. It's available pre-order and is officially out October 7th. Congratulations on your first book, Danny. Thank you, Tom.

Way to go. We got more to come. Stick with us. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio Station. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by covering Florida Navigator Program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-92115 or covering Florida.org.

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Great to have you along. We started today's program by talking about the government shutdown. There have been a lot of claims over what's happening and the impact of the shutdown. Well, every couple of weeks, we connect with our partner, PolitiFact, to separate fact from fiction. If you have a claim from a politician, a public official, or something you saw on social media, and you want us to check it out, you can share it with us by emailing radio at the Florida roundup.org. Radio at the Florida roundup. org. Samantha Putterman follows all of this with our news partner, Politifact, Florida, and is back

with us. Sam, welcome back. Let's start with the competing narratives from the Republicans and the Democrats, starting with the GOP point of view. Republicans say they've offered to keep spending levels the same until November as they hammer out an actual budget. This is Florida Republican Senator Ashley Moody on Fox on Tuesday. We have put forth a clean spending bill. We will keep the government open if the Democrats agree to just keep

it open for seven more weeks while we work towards ironing out our appropriations bills. It's as simple as that. We've heard that from a number of Republicans, a clean spending bill. Sam, what is a clean spending bill? Right. So neither dirty nor clean is really an official

term. Clean has been commonly used by lawmakers to describe continuing resolutions right, that extend a previous year's spending levels in a way that avoids a shutdown. A resolution is clean in the sense that it extends spending and it really doesn't add on a lot more legislative goals. So Democrats have centered their opposition on all this around the enhanced subsidies for folks who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. And as we've mentioned, there are millions of Floridians who use this program. This is what Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said on CBS on Sunday. Seventy-five percent increase in premiums.

starting November 1st on people who are small business owners, people who are farmers out there, twice as much in the rural area. So that's what this is about to us. So kind of two claims in here, right, the 75% increase in premiums beginning November 1st. And then would rural residents actually see twice as much of an increase? Right. So we rated that mostly true. Klobuchar's office told us that she was referring to rural and rural easing increases that were double what they had paid for for. So an analysis by the Century Foundation found that out-of-pocket insurance costs would increase, on average, in rural counties from around $700 to nearly $1,500. That's a 107% increase, so slightly more than doubling. But, you know, comparing

rural enrollees cost increased with people elsewhere amounts to to support, like, still very large increases for rural areas, but not twice as much. It comes out to about 28% more compared to urban enrollees. Yeah. And lots of those folks in Florida who use these enhanced subsidies, or have subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, are concentrated in kind of the urban areas in Florida, as you would expect because of population. Republicans say Democrats' demands include government spending on health care

for immigrants without legal status in the United States. We've heard these claims coming from the White House, even. This is the Vice President, J.D. Vance, on Sunday on Fox. Democrats are threatening to shut down the entire government because they want to give hundreds of billions of dollars of health care benefits to illegal aliens. So this claim, has been central to the Republican talking point here.

Is it true? Is it that the Democrats want a spending plan that would extend health care to people in the United States with no legal status? No. So we rated this one false, and like you said, it has been very widely repeated. Immigrants in the U.S. illegally

are already largely ineligible for federally funded health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and they can't seek coverage in the ACA marketplace or apply for subsidies. And the Democrats' budget proposal, it doesn't try to change any of that. Instead, they want to restore access to certain health care programs for legal immigrants who will lose access under the Republican's tax and spending law that passed over the summer, among other measures, right, aimed at making Medicaid and ACA insurance plans easier for people to keep and

afford. There is a small Medicaid program that does reimburse hospitals for emergency care provided to immigrants who would be eligible for Medicaid, if not for their immigration status. But we found that most emergency Medicaid spending is used on childbirth, and in all, it represents less than 1% of the program's total spending in 2023. And as a reminder, you know, hospitals are required by law to provide emergency care to people regardless of their, you know, insurance or immigration status. Right, right. Another government agency that is of clear interest for Floridians, especially this time of year, is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Now, let's knock on wood here, Sam. It's been a quiet season that shall not be named so far here in

the Sunshine State. But on Sunday, after meeting with President Trump and top congressional Republicans, the House Speaker Mike Johnson said this. FEMA won't be funded. We have hurricanes off the coast of the United States right now. This is serious business. So FEMA won't be funded, according to the Speaker of the House, during a government shutdown. So how does FEMA operate in a shutdown? Right. So Johnson's correct that Congress hasn't agreed on FEMA funding prior to the shutdown. But a Department of Homeland Security shutdown procedures plan does estimate that about 84% of FEMA employees will continue to work. Experts said that, you know, FEMA will still respond in an emergency.

You know, hurricanes don't play politics. No, no, they don't. Yeah, and noted that the agency's recovery efforts are most at risk because they depend on how much money remains in the disaster relief funds. So those dollars aren't tied to the shutdown, but they usually run low this time of year. Normally, Congress passes a continuing resolution to add money, but a shutdown means that doesn't happen, which can slow recovery projects, but not, you know, the immediate response. And I know some other folks have raised concern that the national flood insurance program

is impacted by the shutdown in terms of getting new flood policies, which could impact the real estate market if you're trying to buy a home in a flood zone and your mortgage lender, for instance, requires you to have flood insurance. Right. Yes. All right. Samantha, thank you so much for your time and waiting through all of these claims. Much appreciated. Thank you for having me. Samantha Putterman is with our news partner, Politifact.

And if you have a claim from a politician, a public official, something you see on social media that you just want us to check out. We'd be happy to do it. Email it to us, radio at the florida roundup.org. Radio at the Florida Roundup.org. I'm Tom Hudson. You're listening to The Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. A couple of stories about seasons and property. Now, the legislative season is beginning to take shape already.

It starts in January and local property taxes will be a big issue. about it. But even before lawmakers gather for the upcoming session, Governor Ronda Santos is floating the idea of a special legislative session during the next election season to cut property taxes. Here's reporter Douglas Sol with our partner WUSF. Florida House lawmakers are already trying to figure out how to reduce the property tax. The plan is to vote on something during the 26 legislative session, which voters would then have to approve during next year's election. Governor Ron DeSantis is upping the pressure. He's suggesting a special session if the legislature does not get it done.

We could potentially have a special session on property tax right in the middle of the Republican primary season in July or August. Imagine that. I don't think a lot of these guys would want to vote the wrong way then. DeSantis says the property tax is too expensive and he disagrees with people having to pay it. I want to see something big enacted. That's the whole goal. While the governor can call the special session, it's ultimately up to the House and Senate to pass legislation during one. I'm Douglas Sol in Tallahassee.

While we're talking about property, the state of Florida did a real estate deal this week that could bring a presidential library for President Donald Trump to Miami. Governor DeSantis and the cabinet okayed turning over a parking lot that had been owned by Miami-Dade College. The lot is across the street from the Freedom Tower, which is a landmark that served as a center for Cuban refugees for decades. State Chief Financial Officer Blaise Angolia called the library a unique opportunity. I think it's important both from, you know, formalizing his accomplishments as president, showing him, showing everyone how important the president is to the state of Florida. Now, the land deal and vote was not without considerable controversy. UC Maspelay teaches creative writing at Miami-Dade College,

and she joined a protest before that cabinet vote this week. The fact that it's being put right next to the Freedom Tower where so many Cubans, ran from a dictator. It's kind of like a slap in the face. Historian and activist Marvin Dunn has asked the local state attorney in Miami-Dade County to investigate the process that led to the deal. He accused the school's board of trustees of violating open meeting laws before deciding to give the land to the state.

I am outraged of how they did it secretly. No discussion during the meeting, no invitation for public input. Now, the Trump Presidential Library Foundation has five more years to move forward with the project. The foundation has been raising money already, including millions of dollars in legal settlements from META and ABC when the president sued those companies. Well, it's still a little early for snowbirds here in Florida, but it's not too early for eastern Phoebe's, northern house wrens, and blue-headed verios. The skies over Florida have been crowded with tens of millions of birds this week as their annual migration picks up. Here's Tom Bayless from our partner station, WGCU, in Fort Myers. 7 million birds flew over Collier, Lee, and Henry County's Sunday into Monday, part of

30 million migrating south for the winter. Few were more excited about the feathery skies than Keith Lachan, the director of Audubon, Florida's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. He can tell you the name of just about every bird that flew over his house, black and white warblers, yellow-bellied sap-suckers, and the gray catbird. Wow, meow. People probably hear it all the time. They don't know what it is. gorgeous slate gray bird with a black cap. They're very dapper. Birders come up with the numbers heading south using institutional knowledge, real-time online databases, and weather radar. Flox show up at night.

So that's a scientific guess is what I have to say about that. Lachanin said birding is like Forrest Gump's chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. In Fort Myers. I'm Tom Bezos. Well, so what better way to end this week than to hear some sandhill cranes in Hilliarton Marsh? That's in Ontario, Canada. This is last week. They were just beginning their journey south. Florida is only about 1,200 miles away or so, maybe more, as the sandhill crane flies.

That is the Florida Roundup this week. It is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WSF in Tampa. This week by Bridget O'Brien, Denise Royal, and Helen Acevedo. WLRN's vice president of radio is Peter Merritt. Our technical director is M.J. Smith. Engineering help each and every week from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J. and Jackson Harb. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist, Aaron Leibos, at Aaron Leibos.com. Thanks for calling, listening, emailing, and above all, supporting public media in your slice of Florida.

I'm Tom Hudson. Have a terrific weekend. The Florida Roundup is sponsored by Covering Florida Navigator program, providing confidential assistance with health insurance enrollment through the health insurance marketplace. Assistance is available at 877-813-92115 or coveringflora.org.