Congressional Democrats have launched a legislative effort to protect funding for a key nutritional support program for low-income women and children.
As the federal government shutdown rolls on, there are growing fears the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program could run out of money.
An estimated 40% of all infants in the US use the program, which provides nutritious foods to pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants and children up to five years old, and served 6.7 million each month last year, according to official data.
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“The benefits, if you lose them because of the lapse in funding, you can’t make up for it,” Robert C Scott, a Virginia congressman, told the Guardian, noting that even brief disruptions to the service could negatively impact infant and child development. “It’s a program that really should be immune to the vagaries of the annual budget process.”
Scott, the top Democrat on the House education and workforce committee, and Suzanne Bonamici, an Oregon congresswoman, are set to introduce a bill – the WIC Benefits Protection Act – today, which would ensure the program remains fully funded, and not subject to any lapses during government shutdowns, by classifying it as mandatory program.
The program – funded by the federal government and administered by states, tribal organizations, the District of Columbia and territories – also provides education, counseling and referral services to healthcare and social services.
Scott criticized Republicans, accusing them of refusing to negotiate at all on developing a budget bill they can pass through the House and Senate. “The administration and states are shifting money around trying to make up for the lapse in funding, but we shouldn’t have all this drama and loss of services at the end of every fiscal year, when we risk a government shutdown,” he said.
While WIC services have historically never lapsed during a government shutdown, state and local agencies have already begun scaling back services. A WIC office in Lyon county, Kansas, shut down this week as a result of the government shutdown.
In Mississippi, the state department of health has stopped processing many applications for WIC, placing them on a waitlist. Other states, such as Washington and Alaska, received funding to continue operating until the end of this month.
States including California, Arizona, West Virginia and Alabama have cautioned that a long-term shutdown could put services and benefits in jeopardy once contingency funds have run out. Others, such as Colorado and Connecticut, have redirected state funds to ensure WIC continues operating during the shutdown.
The Trump administration has said that revenues from tariffs will be used to fund WIC during the shutdown, with the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, last week hailing a “creative solution” to shore up the program. This funneled as much as $300m into WIC, officials reportedly told congressional staffers.
The National WIC Association noted “this is not a permanent solution” and urged for full-year funding. Federal program costs for WIC stood at $7.2bn in fiscal year 2024.
Under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed earlier this year, cuts to Medicaid are expected to force about 3 million Americans to lose income eligibility to WIC, according to a policy brief by the National WIC Association.
Scott’s bill, which has about 50 Democratic co-sponsors, would amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require mandatory funding for WIC that would go into effect for fiscal year 2026 and each succeeding fiscal year.
The White House deferred comment to the office of management and budget, which said WIC is being funded by tariff revenue for the foreseeable future.
A spokesperson for the USDA said in an email: “While Democrats continue to vote to prolong the government shutdown, blocking funding for mothers and babies who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), USDA will utilize tariff revenue to fund WIC for the foreseeable future.”
