WIC food program receives $300M to keep running during government shutdown

WASHINGTON– 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, easing some concerns that it would run out of money during the government shutdown.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children helps more than 6 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents purchase nutritious staples like fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and infant formula. The program, known as WIC, was in danger of running out of money this month due to the government shutdown, which came just before it received its annual appropriation.

This week, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X that the White House had found “a creative solution” to use tariff revenue to keep the program afloat. As of Thursday, at least some states were receiving WIC money. Alaska and Washington said they received enough federal funds to keep their programs running at least until the end of October. The Nevada Inter-Tribal Council, which closed its offices Thursday after running out of money, received the money that allowed it to reopen Friday, radio station KUNR reported.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs WIC, told congressional staff that they were using $300 million in unspent tariff revenue in the last fiscal year to keep the program afloat, two people briefed on the call told AP. The people declined to be named because they were not authorized to share details of the call.

Tariff revenue supports many USDA programs. The law allows the administration to transfer money allocated for other programs to WIC.

Without this additional money, state and local governments would have had to step in to fund their WIC programs and then seek reimbursement from the federal government when funding was restored. Washington state, which faces a huge budget deficit, has said it can’t afford to use state money for the WIC program.

In Alaska, the WIC program only had enough federal money to operate through Saturday, meaning the state would have had to step in with its own funding to keep the program running. But this week, officials learned they were receiving nearly $900,000, enough to fully fund the program through Nov. 8, according to Shirley Sakaye, a spokeswoman for the state health department. About half a million of that came from leftover funds from other programs, she said.

The government has been paralyzed since October 1, after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to pass a bill to continue funding the government. Congressional Democrats want to reverse cuts to Medicaid that were passed earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump’s megabill. They also want to expand subsidies that would reduce the cost of Affordable Care Act insurance plans, which cover more than 24 million Americans.

The White House and congressional Republicans have criticized Democrats for the shutdown, pointing to the potential damage it could do to WIC.

“Democrats are so cruel in their continued votes to bring down the government that they forced the end of the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children this week,” Leavitt posted on X.

But Republicans and the White House have also sought to kill the program. Trump’s budget proposal and a budget bill passed by House Republicans last month would not have fully funded the program, meaning it would have had to turn away eligible applicants.

“Since President Trump is now signaling that he cares about the WIC program, he should finally come to the negotiating table to reopen the government,” said Sen. Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington state. “And he should immediately disavow his budget request to slash benefits for millions of mothers and children – and tell House Republicans to back off their proposed cuts, too.”

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This story has been corrected to reflect that the Affordable Care Act covers 24 million Americans, not 25 million.

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