US government shutdown threatens food-aid program for low-income Americans

Source: ABC News

October 2, 2025 1:02 PM EDT Updated 2 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Crucial food assistance for about 6.7 million low-income Americans has been put in jeopardy by a federal government shutdown that the deeply divided U.S. Congress shows no signs of resolving swiftly.

The threat to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, illustrates how the effects of a shutdown that enters its second day on Thursday will reverberate out from Washington, taking more of a toll the longer that Republicans and Democrats fail to reach an agreement to reopen government agencies.

The $7.6 billion program represents a tiny slice of the roughly $7 trillion federal budget, but unlike the Social Security retiree benefit and Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs, WIC needs to be re-authorized by Congress every year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it will continue to administer WIC as funds allow, but Georgia Machell, president and CEO of the National WIC Association, said the program is critically low on funds given this shutdown's timing at the end of the fiscal year on Tuesday. "A prolonged federal shutdown that lasts longer than one week is going to start to put babies and young children at risk," Machell said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-government-shutdown-threatens-food-aid-program-low-income-americans-2025-10-02/

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WIC is under the Agriculture appropriation - WIC: USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children and SNAP is under the Farm Bill - Farm Bill Primer: Background and Status

The USDA Farm Bill site has been defaced with 45's lunatic anti-American graffiti.