WASHINGTON (AP) — A food assistance program that helps millions of low-income mothers and their young children received a $300 million infusion from the Trump administration this week, allaying some fears it would come to fruition. run out of money meanwhile government shutdown.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children helps more than 6 million low-income mothers, infants, and expectant parents afford nutritious staple foods such as fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk, and infant formula. The program, known as WIC, was at risk of running out of funding this month because the government shutdown occurred just before it was scheduled to receive its annual budget.
This week, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt Posted in X The White House found a “creative solution” to use tariff revenue to keep the program alive. By Thursday, at least some states had received WIC funding. Alaska and Washington states said they have received enough federal funding to continue their programs through at least the end of October. The Nevada Inter-Tribal Council, which had closed its offices Thursday after running out of funds, received funding Friday that allowed it to reopen its offices. Radio station KUNR reported..
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs WIC, told Congressional staff that they were using $300 million in unused tariff revenue from the previous year to keep the program afloat, two people briefed on the conference call told The Associated Press. The officials declined to be named because they were not authorized to share details of the call.
Tariff revenues support many USDA programs. The law allows the administration to transfer funds allocated to other programs to WIC.
Without additional funding, state and local governments would have had to step in to pay for the WIC program and seek reimbursement from the federal government later when funding was restored. Washington state is significant budget shortfallsaid they cannot afford to spend state funds on the WIC program.
In Alaska, the WIC program only had enough federal funding to operate through Saturday. This meant that the state had to step in with its own funds to keep the program going. But this week, officials learned they had received nearly $900,000, enough to fully fund the program through Nov. 8, said Shirley Sakay, a spokeswoman for the state health department. About 500,000 of that comes from surplus funds from other programs, she said.
The government has been shut down since October 1 after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to pass legislation to continue funding the government. Congressional Democrats want to do this. Medicaid Reverse Cut It was passed earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump’s massive bill. They also want to expand subsidies that reduce the cost of Affordable Care Act insurance plans, which cover more than 24 million Americans.
The White House and Congressional Republicans have grilled Democrats for calling for a shutdown, highlighting the potential damage a shutdown could do to WIC.
“Democrats are so cruel that they continue to vote to shut down the government, forcing them to end the WIC program for our most vulnerable women and children this week,” Leavitt wrote on X.
But House Republicans and the White House are also calling for cuts to the program. Mr. Trump’s budget proposal and the one passed by House Republicans last month do not provide enough funding for the program, which would mean that eligible applicants would have to be turned away.
“President Trump has now shown an interest in the WIC program, which should finally bring him to the negotiating table to reopen the government,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement. “And he should immediately reject budget requests that would drastically cut benefits for millions of mothers and children, and tell House Republicans to rescind their proposed cuts.”
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This article has been corrected to reflect that the Affordable Care Act covers 24 million Americans, not 25 million.
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