ANCHORAGE — Speakers at the Senate Indian Affairs roundtable urged Congress to authorize a pilot allowing regional tribal nonprofits to administer SNAP in Alaska service areas to reduce delays and improve access.

“Alaska native families should not go hungry while systems fail,” said Chief Brian Ridley of Tanana Chiefs Conference, citing months-long backlogs for SNAP applications, long hold times, dropped calls and delayed mail in tribal villages. Ridley told the committee that tribes currently administer TANF, LIHEAP, Head Start and childcare and argued that similar federal authority for SNAP would reduce duplication and speed assistance to families.

Tanana Chiefs Conference described a multi-pronged local response — salmon distributions worth about $1 million a year, food vouchers and one-time stipends — but said those local measures are unsustainable. The organization said direct federal funding to tribes, not routed through states or intermediate agencies, would honor tribal self-determination and federal trust responsibilities.

Senator Murkowski said the draft package includes a pilot to build on existing tribal infrastructure that administers other benefits and suggested Alaska is a logical testbed for such models because of its geography and tribal service networks.

The committee did not adopt policy language at the roundtable; staff will consider the testimony in drafting the pilot provisions this fall.