Last April, one amendment introduced on the House floor and passed while three members of the minority were excused did two catastrophic things at once. It robbed Alaskans of $2.3 billion in dividends and unlocked $2.3 billion in new government spending. Amendment One did not just cut the Permanent Fund Dividend from $3,892 to $1,400; it created fiscal headroom for $41 million in pork projects.

Today, as SNAP cards run dry and federal workers in Anchorage wonder how to pay rent, that vote has become the difference between survival and desperation. One policy, the full statutory PFD, could have done two things at once: kept the state budget in check and delivered a lifeline to every Alaskan kitchen table during this federal shutdown.

Alaska’s Permanent Fund is not a piggy bank. It is a finite pie that belongs to Alaskans. The Percent of Market Value rule caps annual draws at five percent of the fund’s five-year average value, roughly $3.8 to $4 billion for FY2026. That money can go to only two places: government operations or the PFD. Every extra dollar sent to Juneau is a dollar not going to your family.

Governor Dunleavy’s FY2026 budget started with the statutory formula: $3,892 per person, or $2.3 billion total. That would have left about $1.7 billion from the POMV draw for the entire state operating budget, forcing real restraint. With a full PFD, there would have been no fiscal space for a record BSA increase and the $41 million in add-ons later inserted by the House Finance Committee. Those were not paid from savings; they were paid from your dividend, PERIOD! A full PFD is a natural spending brake, not because legislators cut agencies, but because the math itself limits the bloat.

Research backs this up. Studies from the University of Alaska and NYU’s Cash Transfer Lab show that direct cash payments like the PFD do not increase government spending; they reduce it. Families use the money for food, housing, education, and health, the essentials that strengthen households and lessen dependence on public assistance. A National Bureau of Economic Research study found that every $1,000 increase in the PFD reduces child neglect reports by about ten percent. Other analyses estimate that the PFD lifts as many as 25,000 Alaskans out of poverty each year, with the greatest benefits in rural regions where the cost of living is highest. These are not theories. They are measurable outcomes.

Now consider the other side of the equation. That same $2.3 billion, if distributed in early October, would have been the strongest anti-hunger tool available during this federal shutdown. A family of four in Bethel would have received $15,568 or nearly ten months of groceries at Bush prices. A furloughed VA nurse in Anchorage with two kids would have received $11,676, enough to keep the lights on and the freezer stocked. An elder in Hooper Bay caring for six grandchildren would have received $23,352, more than enough for fuel, a skiff, and ammunition for winter subsistence. That is real food security, not a temporary federal voucher that vanishes when Washington stops writing checks.

Across Alaska, food banks and community pantries are seeing rising demand as SNAP benefits shrink. Shelves are thinning, and supplies are tight in rural hubs. Every one of those families received a $1,000 PFD that was most likely gone the day it arrived. A full dividend would have preloaded resilience. It would have let Alaskans buy in bulk, pay down debt, and prepare before the federal programs stalled. Research consistently shows that in full-dividend years, food insecurity drops by 15 to 20 percent statewide, with even greater improvement in the Bush. That is the power of letting Alaskan families decide how to use their own share of our wealth.

The tragedy is that we did not have to choose between fiscal restraint and family support. The full PFD was already in the House Finance draft. It passed committee. Instead, Amendment One created a surplus in Juneau and a shortage at Alaska’s kitchen tables. We traded self-reliance for dependence — again!

This shutdown has exposed a hard truth: the PFD is not a bonus. It is infrastructure. It stabilizes households the same way roads and power lines stabilize communities. When Washington falters, the PFD keeps Alaskans afloat without new bureaucracies, forms, or handouts.

The fix is simple: lock the statutory formula into the constitution so no future legislature can use the dividend as a political bargaining chip. Until then, I will keep hearing from parents who cannot afford groceries, elders rationing medicine, kids asking why dinner is just rice again, and families terrified over the loss of their SNAP benefits.

We had the tool to prevent this crisis. The governor had it in his budget. It would have capped spending and fed families. We threw it away in backroom deals. Elections matter. Alaskans can still fix this, but we must decide whom we serve, the government or the governed.

I choose the people.

Originally published on Substack: https://kevinjmccabe.substack.com/p/the-full-pfd