Budget conference: Another DeSantis dis? House includes zilch for early detection cancer program

A cancer treatment and prevention program aimed at early detection may not get a funding boost in the upcoming state budget, as the House leaves funding absent from a line item providing a budget boost to the Mary Brogan Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. 

The Senate, meanwhile, has included $1.8 million in recurring revenue for the program in its latest budget offer as conferencing continues. 

While negotiations are ongoing, and the House could move toward the Senate’s position, the current disparity could signal fallout from the ongoing rift between House leadership and Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

The Mary Brogan Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides free screenings to women to encourage early detection, which improves health outcomes for those who develop breast or cervical cancer. While the program is not directly tied to First Lady Casey DeSantis, she is herself a breast cancer survivor whose early detection aided in her treatment and recovery, and the program is referenced as one to leverage in the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program’s long-range plan. 

Gov. DeSantis has also historically been supportive of the program, signing the current fiscal year budget last year, which included $1.2 million for the program. 

The Mary Brogan Program is a federal-state partnership between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health, providing potentially lifesaving breast cancer screening and diagnostic services to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women who do not qualify for Medicaid. At 2024 funding levels, the program served fewer than 7.4% of eligible women.

The Florida Senate has recommended $6 million for the Mary Brogan Program in their proposed 2025 budget bill and recommended that program eligibility begin at age 40 instead of 50.

The House’s omission of any funding at all comes as the chamber also offered nothing in financing for the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program, even as the Senate offered $15 million in nonrecurring funds from general revenue and another $15 million from other state sources. 

Sources tell Florida Politics the funding is a sticking point in the House, though specific details are sparse.

Although it may be unrelated, the timing and circumstances suggest otherwise. In late February, Republican Rep. Alex Andrade pushed back against the DeSantis administration’s request to eliminate a dedicated funding source for four National Cancer Institute facilities to open that money for other providers, including the First Lady’s research fund.

Andrade told the Florida Phoenix at the time that he instead supported maintaining funding to cancer research facilities, including Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of Florida Health Care Center, the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

It’s no secret that Andrade and the DeSantises are not on great terms.

Andrade led a House panel this Legislative Session, investigating the Hope Florida scandal, sparked by a report uncovering $10 million from a larger $67 million Medicaid contractor settlement that was allocated to the Hope Florida Foundation. The money eventually moved to a campaign opposing the statewide amendment in 2024, seeking to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use. The Governor’s then-Chief of Staff, James Uthmeier, led the committee.

“In the real world, if someone defrauded the state or a charity out of $10 million, they’d go to prison,” Andrade previously told Florida Politics. “Certain bad actors within the DeSantis administration lied about the use of these funds and conspired to funnel this money to a PC. Those people deserve to go to prison.”

Now, a criminal investigation is underway into the scandal, and Andrade has doubled down.

“I’m not in a position to comment on what law enforcement is or isn’t doing,” he said last month when the investigation was revealed. “I’m convinced that crimes occurred, and I believe those engaged in public corruption should face justice. Whether they ever face justice is up to law enforcement.”

It’s not be only time the House has snubbed the Governor.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, In late January, as the Governor had called for a Special Session cracking down on immigration, House Speaker Daniel Perez blasted DeSantis over his previous veto of 30% of the Legislature’s operating budget. He vowed to use the Legislature’s veto override authority to restore that funding, and to look at other vetoes that could possibly be overridden.

It was a remarkable departure from years prior, when the Legislature had mainly served as a rubber stamp on DeSantis’ agenda.

A spat in April led Perez to claim DeSantis was having “a temper tantrum” and accused DeSantis of lying.