WASHINGTON, D.C. | The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) calls on the Administration to immediately utilize United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) emergency funds for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to ensure uninterrupted benefits across Indian Country, so no person goes hungry. One in four Tribal citizens experiences food insecurity. As a result, an estimated 170,000–500,000 Tribal members who are unable to participate in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) participate in SNAP.

Allowing SNAP to go unfunded for the first time in the program’s history is a choice. Healthy food access is not optional. As of November 5, 2025, we are now in the longest shutdown in American history. Indian Country will not accept austerity imposed on our most vulnerable families and communities because of federal political impasse.

“If the United States can simply suspend access to food during a shutdown, then every promise to safeguard our rights and well-being becomes conditional on political convenience. That is unacceptable by any measure,” said NCAI President Mark Macarro. “The federal trust responsibility exists because this government took our homelands and pledged to protect Tribal Nations’ welfare. SNAP is an important mechanism to guarantee that responsibility by making certain that our children, families, and communities are fed. Let this be the last time that Native American Heritage Month opens with hunger instead of honor.”

November 1, 2025, the day that SNAP benefits stopped, was also the first day of Native American Heritage Month — a time to reflect on the contributions of Native Americans and Alaska Natives to this country, as well as the sacrifices made that give rise to the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations.

Indian Country cannot simply “fill the gap” left by this shutdown. The ability to build fully resourced, sovereign food systems has been systematically obstructed by federal policy for generations. In fact, the failure to fund SNAP evokes one of the darkest chapters of federal policy when the United States sought to eliminate buffalo to starve Tribal Nations of their food supply. This moment carries the same disregard for our humanity. The United States cannot spend over two centuries destroying, then preventing Tribal Nations from developing independent food infrastructure, and now act as if withholding federal obligations is a neutral act. Refusing to fund SNAP results in immediate material harm created by the same federal system that led to these conditions in the first place.

NCAI has been working closely with the Native Farm Bill Coalition, as a founding member, to address this issue and ensure this Administration immediately supports the continuity of benefits for SNAP recipients until Congress reopens the government, supports Tribal administration and self-governance options, and honors, in practice, the federal trust responsibility demonstrated through SNAP.

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About the National Congress of American Indians:

Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of Tribal governments and communities, promoting strong Tribal-federal government-to-government policies and a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people, and rights.