Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
Em Luetkemeyer, Oklahoma Watch
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to give low-income households on Native American reservations easier access to healthier food by making a food program established during the first Trump administration permanent.
The chances of the bill getting across the finish line are unclear. The lawmakers would need the backing of Republican House leadership for it to get a floor vote, and it’s at odds with much of the Trump administration’s priorities to cut federal funding.
But the lack of availability of healthy food on reservations is a rare issue that is of at least some concern to both parties.
“As my old committee colleagues know, I work on all sides of the aisle with every open-minded variety,” Rep. Frank Lucas, one of the co-sponsors of the bill, said as he squeezed into an elevator full of lawmakers when asked about bipartisan work on tribal affairs.
The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations provides a box of food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture each month to income-eligible households on reservations. It began as a pilot program with the Cherokee and Chickasaw nations in the 2018 farm bill, and about 50,000 individuals were using the program monthly by 2023. The USDA describes the program as an alternative to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that allows participants to choose from fruits, vegetables, proteins, cooking essentials and more.
After seeing its success, lawmakers are hoping to use the legislation introduced by Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids to make the program permanent. Any federally recognized tribe that participates in the program could administer the program itself.
“I would call it an overarching effort to make sure that tribes can have more self-determination,” Davids, who represents a competitive district in Kansas, said. “It’s a really good way to make sure that these resources get straight to tribal governments, so that they can then, as effectively as possible, get this nutritional food out to their communities.”
Davids, a Ho-Chunk Nation citizen, has lived and worked on a reservation, where access to grocery stores — let alone healthy foods and produce — can be scarce. She said this act is “a really good way for everyone to remember that these aren’t just statistics.”
“I lived in a place where it would take 45 minutes to get to a very small grocery store, and 90 minutes to get to what I think a lot of people might consider like a regular-sized grocery store,” Davids said.
Food insecurity is significantly greater for Native American and Alaska Native households than all U.S. households, according to a 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office.
Ben Goldey, communications director for the House Committee on Agriculture, said in a written statement that the program would be part of upcoming farm bill negotiations.
“This is very similar to something that was part of the bipartisan farm bill that passed out of Committee last year, but ultimately did not make it across the finish line,” Goldey said.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill that just passed includes many of the farm bill programs that could pass through reconciliation, however many critical programs remain,” Goldey said, in reference to the reconciliation bill Congress passed this week. “As we turn our focus to what Chairman Thompson is calling Farm Bill 2.0 … this will be part of those discussions.”
The offices of Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise did not respond to Oklahoma Watch’s requests for comment.
Tribal leaders praised the pilot version of the program at a field hearing with members of Congress in April but said they wanted more agency over buying and distributing the food.
“The addition of the self-determination-type program, where we can purchase certain foods ourselves, is certainly something we welcome, and it has proven to be a very good change,” Gov. Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation said in the hearing.
Oklahoma is home to nearly 40 federally recognized tribes and would be one of the states that stand to benefit the most if the bill were passed.
“It worked spectacularly successful,” Lucas said of the program. “So we’re trying to make sure that opportunity is available for the other 500-some tribes.”
Rep. Tom Cole, a Chickasaw Nation member who, like Lucas, is a Republican, signed on as another co-sponsor of this act last week.
“A lot of [reservations] are food deserts, and the population is scattered and isolated — very, very rural,” Cole said. “There’s not the consumer base in many cases that you need to get the food diversity that, honestly, every American ought to have access to.”
Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.
Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter covering the federal government for Oklahoma Watch.
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