Nearly 70,000 Alaskans could see food assistance cut off if federal shutdown continues

Iris Samuels, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska on Oct 21, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

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.

SNAP-eligible Alaskans receive more than $20 million a month in federal funding that goes directly to cover the cost of food.

"SNAP benefits are distributed directly from a federal account to recipients' EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards. Reprogramming the federal system to instead draw funds from the state treasury is not feasible due to vendor and system timeline constraints," said Department of Health spokesperson Shirley Sakaye in a Tuesday email.

"The state also explored issuing paper warrants (checks) as an alternative to EBT cards," Sakaye wrote. "However, this approach also posed major challenges. Altering the federal system interface could disrupt eligibility records for all SNAP recipients and potentially require redeterminations once normal operations resumed."

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.

Alaska's all-Republican congressional delegation members are at odds on how to handle — or even speak about — the federal shutdown. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and U.S. Rep. Nick Begich have blamed the shutdown on Democrats. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski blasted her colleagues on Saturday for blaming the opposite party for the shutdown rather than working across the aisle to end it.

_____