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

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

Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs WIC, told congressional staffers they were using $300 million in unspent tariff revenue from 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 from the call.

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

Without the additional money, state and local governments would have had to step in to pay for their WIC programs and later seek reimbursement from the federal government when funding was restored. Washington state, which is dealing with a massive budget shortfall, said it could not 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 spokesperson with the state’s health department. About half a million of that came from leftover funds from other programs, she said.

The government has been shut down since Oct. 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 mega-bill. They also want to extend subsidies that cut the cost of Affordable Care Act insurance plans, which cover more than 24 million Americans.

The White House and Republicans in Congress have hammered Democrats for the shutdown, highlighting the potential damage it could do to WIC.

“The Democrats are so cruel in their continual votes to shut down the government that they forced the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children to run out this week,” Leavitt posted on X.

But House Republicans and the White House have also sought to cut 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 to turn away eligible applicants.

“Since President Trump is now signaling he cares about the WIC program, he should finally get to the negotiating table to reopen the government,” said Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state. “And he should immediately disavow his budget request to significantly cut benefits for millions of moms and kids — and tell House Republicans to back off their proposed cuts as well.”

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

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.