U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he wants to improve Alaska Natives’ access to traditional foods.
“It’s part of our obligation to Native people here and to American Indians across our country,” he told reporters Wednesday in Fairbanks.
But standing outside the Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center, Kennedy said he isn’t exactly sure how to achieve that objective.
“That’s what I came here to ask,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out ways I can use my agency and my relationship with other secretaries to return those foods. If you got ideas, let me know, because I’m looking for them.”
He floated one idea, saying he thinks policies could make it easier for people to use Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase hunting or fishing gear, but didn’t provide further details. Alaska’s error rate for delivering SNAP benefits is the highest in the country, something that’s resulted in federal fines over the last two years.
Kennedy is stopping in at a few healthcare facilities in Alaska this week. And in Anchorage on Tuesday, he called the impact of processed foods on Native health part of a “genocide.”
The health center where Kennedy spoke in Fairbanks is operated by Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC). The nonprofit tribal organization aims to support health and social service needs of its 42 members, 37 of which are federally-recognized tribes.
TCC Chief and Chairman Brian Ridley said Wednesday that the secretary’s pledge to search for ways to bolster traditional food access is encouraging, though only a starting point.
“It’s just a matter of working with him and the senators going forward on trying to find a way to actually make that happen,” he said.
Ridley said his organization also requested that HHS preserve funding for federal agencies and programs TCC relies on to provide care, including not only Medicaid and the Indian Health Service but also the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and lesser-known Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
KFF Health News reported last week that deep staff cuts at HRSA under the Trump administration have hampered the agency’s ability to carry out its duties. And NPR reported in June that SAMHSA had lost about a third of its staff.
President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget also calls for eliminating both HRSA and SAMHSA, looping them into a new agency while cutting a number of their programs, including tribal behavioral health grants.
Asked about the two agencies on Wednesday, Kennedy said he is committed to protecting funding for both.
“I think he [Kennedy] understood,” Ridley said, “Now, we’ll just have to see. You know, the proof is in the pudding as far as what’s going to happen there and what decisions are going to be made.”
The press conference took place after Kennedy toured the Fairbanks health center with U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
Back in February, Murkowski said she had misgivings about Kennedy’s selective interpretation of scientific studies. But both Alaska senators voted to confirm Kennedy, citing his knowledge of Alaska and commitments to tribal health.
She and Sullivan reaffirmed their support for Kennedy on Wednesday in brief remarks before reporters posed questions to the secretary.
“We don’t agree on all issues, but when it comes to recognizing the role that our federal government has to our tribes and our tribal members, to Alaska Native people, this is an individual that has walked the talk,” Murkowski said.
And Sullivan called Kennedy’s visit to Alaska a “critical one.”
“I will tell you, he has a passion for Alaska, our state, our Native people in a way that is very strong,” he said.
Midway through the press conference Wednesday, a man shouted and charged in the direction of the health secretary and Alaska’s senators. The security detail on-site restrained him, took him inside the building and forced him to the ground before carrying him away.
The officials’ visit also drew about 80 peaceful protesters, who chanted and lined West Cowles Street with signs, as well as a handful of counterprotesters.
Jonah Jossart, who said he just got his master’s degree in marine biology, was holding a sign among the protestors. He said Kennedy might bring attention to a lot of good issues with his Make America Healthy Again campaign, “but actions speak louder than words.”
“Cherrypicking scientific studies that don’t even apply to what he’s saying, and kind of ignoring the consensus, is not a way forward,” he said.
The health secretary and senators’ trip to Fairbanks follows the Tuesday event in Anchorage, where Kennedy defended cancelling nearly half a billion dollars for mRNA vaccine development, saying they “don’t work very well.”
The move, which was also first announced on Tuesday, has drawn sharp rebuke from medical experts, including Trump’s first-term surgeon general, Jerome Adams, who posted on X that mRNA research helped “develop COVID vaccines in record time” and saved millions of lives.
“We should be doubling down on what works – not defunding it,” he wrote. “And we need constructive dialogue vs destructive idealogues.”