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Florida is becoming the first state to impose sweeping new limits on how welfare cash can be spent, blocking recipients from using cash-assistance benefits loaded onto EBT cards for purchases like tattoos, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products and other items not generally considered “basic needs” under a plan the Trump administration is urging other states to emulate.
Florida’s cash-assistance program, known as Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), is funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF. It is separate from SNAP, the food-assistance program, though families may receive both types of benefits through separate balances on the same EBT card.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) determined Florida’s updated TANF plan to be complete Thursday in a letter sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis and obtained by Digital. The letter praised the Sunshine State governor for putting “common-sense restrictions” on what it calls inappropriate, luxury and non-essential purchases.
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‘We Accept (Food Stamps)’ sign hangs in the window of a grocery store in Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“Taxpayer-funded assistance should help families put food on the table, keep the lights on, purchase clothing, provide for their children and overcome barriers on the path toward independence,” DeSantis said in announcing the policy. “We will continue supporting Floridians who genuinely need assistance, while working to improve accountability and transparency so that these programs operate as intended.”
Florida had already barred EBT cards from being used or accepted for alcohol purchases and transactions at adult-entertainment establishments, casinos, and commercial bingo locations several years ago, but the updated plan moves beyond those merchant and location-based restrictions by imposing item-level limits at otherwise eligible retailers, including on purchases for tattoos and other body piercings, entertainment services and products like theme park admission and video games, intoxicants like vapes and other nicotine products, and pornography products.
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The governor’s press release announcing the change also cites “Psychic and fortune-telling services” among those purchases that will be prohibited.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (AP/Rebecca Blackwell)
Florida’s separate Healthy SNAP initiative, launched in April, barred recipients from using food benefits on soda, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed prepared desserts. The new action from the Sunshine State, with backing from the Trump administration, applies those same food limits to Florida’s cash-assistance program, which is funded through TANF, while adding restrictions on non-food purchases deemed non-essential.
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ACF Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams told Digital the administration sees TANF as temporary help for families in need, not an unrestricted cash benefit.
“When people come to us for those basic needs, we will give them short-term assistance for those needs, but not for superfluous purchases,” he said.
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Florida distributes its welfare benefits through EBT cards to help eligible families cover basics such as food, clothing, housing, utilities, household goods and personal-care items. The governor’s office says the average participating household receives roughly $250 a month, and Adams stressed that the policy does not reduce anyone’s benefit amount.
“No one loses any of their benefit,” Adams said. “What this is saying is, if an individual or a family is going to come to the government to cover their basic needs, it is the government’s expectation that they be used for those basic needs.”
The restrictions will be phased in as Florida works with its EBT vendor and participating retailers to block prohibited purchases. Under the final plan, recipients will be allowed to withdraw TCA cash only at SNAP-authorized retailers and financial institutions that accept EBT cards.
Adams told Digital the administration hopes Florida becomes a model for other states. He said 27 states lack EBT location restrictions beyond those required by federal law and that most states do not impose item-level TANF purchase limits.
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“While Florida is the first state, hopefully it’s not the last state,” Adams told Digital, adding that ACF plans to highlight Florida’s approach as “a best practice” for other states.
