“Funding for a program that helps millions of women and children with neonatal care and nutrition could soon run out as the federal government plunges deeper into a shutdown, according to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
During a conversation with House Republicans on Wednesday, Vought warned that the federal government probably can only support theSpecial Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — commonly known as WIC — for another week. Other experts, including those at the National WIC Association, predict federal support for WIC could last up to two weeks.After those funds run out, states will have to reach into their own coffers to cover the costs.
An OMB spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that the “program will run out of money this month, meaning that women and children could no longer receive benefits.”
Nell Menefee-Libey, senior public policy manager at the National WIC Association, which advocates for WIC recipients, said once the estimated two weeks of funding are up, families could be put in a “really terrible position about having to figure out how to feed their kids.”
More than 6 million Americans rely on WIC for food assistance, breastfeeding support and nutrition education. The program offers supplemental spending money for groceries and organizes trainings for young parents on how to feed their children. The federal government appropriates grants each year which finance state WIC programs.
Unlike other social safety net programs, WIC is not an entitlement. That means if government spending bills fail, and there is a shutdown, the programs quickly runs out of money.
It also means those who qualify for the program are not legally entitled to benefits, which allows states to boot participants and impose waiting lists for WIC if funding is low.
The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the program, has up to $150 million available in contingency funds to help ferry state WIC coffers through the shutdown, according to guidance USDA released on Wednesday. States can also use rebates from infant formula sales and leftover funds from the previous year to finance their programs during the shutdown. Formula rebates averaged $135 million each month during the past fiscal year.”
Read more at Washington Post.