Copyright Anchorage Daily News
Alaskans who rely on federal food assistance could see their benefits cut off next month due to the ongoing government shutdown, state officials said Monday. The shutdown, now entering its third week, stems from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans in Congress on how to fund the federal government, leaving thousands of federal workers furloughed and many programs they oversee unfunded. Among the programs impacted by the shutdown is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Millions of Americans rely on SNAP benefits to buy food, including roughly 70,000 Alaskans. The Alaska Division of Public Assistance said in a public statement Monday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, “has directed states to stop the issuance of SNAP benefits for the month of November due to insufficient federal funds.” “This means that Alaskans may not receive SNAP benefits in November, even if they are authorized to receive them,” according to the Alaska Department of Health. The Alaska Division of Public Assistance “explored options to maintain nutritional food assistance benefits utilizing state funds and determined that a state subsidy was not mechanically possible under the federal payment system,” state officials wrote. Department of Health spokesperson Shirley Sakaye did not immediately elaborate on the barriers to using state funds to supplant the federal assistance. SNAP-eligible Alaskans receive more than $20 million a month in federal funding that goes directly to cover the cost of food. The loss of the assistance could be felt acutely across the state, particularly in rural communities where grocery prices are higher and food bank access is more limited. When a state backlog in 2022 led thousands of SNAP recipients to lose access to their benefits, some were left hungry amid unprecedented demand for food pantries. Demand for assistance from the food bank is already expected to be higher as communities work to recover from storm impacts in Western Alaska, amid a loss of subsistence food caches.
