As costs rise, red tape leaves Alaskans struggling to access aid

One year after congressional Republicans passed a federal tax bill that slashed funding for food assistance, Alaskans report that they’re struggling amid rising costs, decreasing benefits and concerns about their future. 

“Grocery prices are just going up and up and up and up,” said Rachel Lord, the advocacy and policy director at the Alaska Food Policy Council and the mayor of Homer. “And, yeah, we had the spike of eggs, and those have come back down, but overall the goalpost of affordability has shifted so dramatically.”

In some places in Alaska, a gallon of milk can go for $13, Lord noted. Those costs can rise even higher as the war in Iran drives up gas prices in a state where the vast majority of its food is imported. Energy bills are rising, heating costs are up significantly, and both homeownership and rental costs have increased.

These everyday costs are on the rise as Alaskans, like people nationwide, are facing a decrease in federal assistance due to cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That legislation, which President Donald Trump signed into law last July and was backed by Alaska’s entire congressional delegation, slashed funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, a federal program that provides financial assistance to purchase food for more than 66,000 people in Alaska. About one in seven Alaskans faces food insecurity, according to the nonprofit Feeding America.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut taxes for the richest 10% of Americans, also increased reporting requirements for SNAP recipients and upped the number of hours that beneficiaries have to work and report to the government to receive food assistance. The vast majority of those with SNAP benefits in Alaska work, according to the Alaska Food Policy Council. Research from the Hamilton Project, an initiative of the left-leaning Brookings Institution, found that SNAP work requirements do not end in more people being employed but rather in people who are eligible for benefits not receiving them due to red tape.

The year-old law removed SNAP work requirement exemptions for veterans, homeless individuals and former foster youth, among others, and increased the age of people who will need to prove they’re working to 64 years old. 

Following the implementation of these changes, Alaska’s SNAP enrollment dropped by 422 people between July 2025 and March 2026, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The center also reported in 2025 that about 5,000 Alaskans are at risk of losing their SNAP benefits because of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

These changes will leave people increasingly desperate as they face rising costs and hunger, said Jody Morris, whose job involves enrolling people for benefits like SNAP. Morris is a member of the Alaska State Employees Association/American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 52 union.

“The food banks are going to be overwhelmed. Taking away any of these benefits is going to cause people depression, suicide. It’s something I don’t even like to think about,” Morris said. 

Ashley Edgington, the volunteer coordinator who oversees the Meals on Wheels program at the Fairbanks Senior Center, said she has seen an increase in the number of people trying to access food assistance programs like Meals on Wheels. She noted there could be a variety of reasons for that, including an aging population in Fairbanks.

Recently, Edgington said she has been stocking more food than usual at sites frequented by veterans, such as the VFW, because more individuals are taking the food she leaves for them at those locations. 

“From what I’m hearing from community members is that there’s an uptick in requests for food assistance, and a lot of them are kind of in that point where they’re breaking down because they can no longer afford going to the grocery store,” Edgington said.

After his vote in support of the One Big Beautiful Bill, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan applauded the changes to the reporting requirements for SNAP. 

“The bill also includes commonsense work requirements for these benefits, ensuring able-bodied Americans utilizing these programs are contributing to our economy, and shoring up the social safety net program for those it was intended to support–struggling single parents, children and individuals with disabilities or mental health challenges,” Sullivan’s press release stated. “At the same time, Alaska faces challenges that no other state deals with, which is why we secured flexibility for our state government to implement the new Medicaid and SNAP work requirements, giving the state breathing room to fix program challenges without hurting Alaskans who rely on these benefits.”

Democratic critics, however, say the cuts are deeply harmful Alaskans, including veterans, who now face the increased paperwork requirements for SNAP.

“It’s been one year since Dan Sullivan cast the deciding vote on legislation that slashed food assistance for Alaska veterans and abandoned Alaska’s heroes,” Alaska Democratic Party spokesperson Clare Jennings said in a statement to the Alaska Independent. “Add in Sullivan’s 10 votes to continue the war in Iran – which has raised the cost of gas and groceries to historic levels – and it’s clear that Sullivan would rather help out his Lower 48 special interest backers than Alaskans. Dan Sullivan doesn’t care about bringing down the cost of living, all he cares about is securing tax breaks for his billionaire backers and millionaires like himself. It’s shameful, and our veterans deserve better.”