The Trump administration stated Tuesday it will use tariff funds to hold afloat a federal food help program for practically 7 million pregnant girls, new mothers and young children throughout the government shutdown.
The program, generally known as WIC, was anticipated to run out of money soon as a result of Congress has but to approve a federal spending package deal for fiscal yr 2026, which began on October 1. The National WIC Association has predicted that this system’s funding would final solely per week or two into the shutdown.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt introduced the tariff thought in a post on X.
“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,” she wrote. “Thankfully, President Trump and the White House have identified a creative solution to transfer resources from Section 232 tariff revenue to this critical program.”
The tariff cash goes into a general fund managed by the Treasury Department. But the fund and all of the tariff revenue flowing into it is actually frozen till a invoice is handed to fund the federal government. Congress and Trump might get round that by passing a measure designating the tariff revenue for a particular use.
WIC, which has lengthy had bipartisan help, has emerged as a speaking level amongst Republicans on how the shutdown is hurting Americans.
House Speaker Mike Johnson beforehand referred to as his Democratic colleagues “shameful” and blamed them for how the federal government shutdown has impacted WIC.
“What they’ve done by shutting the government down is they have stopped the WIC program,” Johnson stated in an interview final week on Newsmax, additionally citing different packages affected by the deadlock.
“All those programs are going to stop. They have stopped now because Chuck Schumer decided to play politics for selfish reasons,” he stated, referring to the Senate minority chief. “It’s really shameful.”
Axios first reported the White House effort.
Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second time period, the president has been including and rising tariffs on a large swath of merchandise and international locations, which he argues will spur extra manufacturing within the US and bolster nationwide safety. Tariff collections have totaled $190 billion thus far this yr.
Section 232 tariffs are imposed on nationwide safety grounds. Trump has already levied such tariffs on aluminum, metal and automobiles, for instance.
The US Department of Agriculture instructed state businesses final week that due to the lapse in authorities funding, they will not obtain their quarterly allocation of fiscal yr 2026 cash for WIC, formally generally known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.
However, the division stated it intends to allocate up to $150 million in contingency funds to state WIC businesses affected by shortfalls. Also, states can use rebates from toddler formulation producers, in addition to their very own funds, in accordance to the USDA steerage obtained by NCS.
WIC helps enrollees buy toddler formulation, child food, cheese, yogurt, bread, peanut butter, fruits, greens and different staples, and it supplies breastfeeding and diet help.
Participation has elevated lately as federal and state policymakers made it simpler to enroll and recertify, improved the buying expertise, and enhanced the advantages. Also, rising inflation, particularly for food, lately has squeezed the budgets of many Americans, particularly low-income households.
Even after the shutdown ends, advocates are involved about WIC having ample funding for the approaching fiscal yr. Unlike food stamps, federal help for WIC is capped — although Congress has at all times allotted sufficient cash to present for all contributors.
The program obtained $7.6 billion in funding for fiscal yr 2025, which ended September 30. The pending full-year spending invoice within the House would hold funding flat and cut back WIC’s fruit and vegetable profit, whereas the model accredited by the Senate would supply $8.2 billion for this fiscal yr.
Advocates stress extra money is required this fiscal yr to guarantee nobody is turned away and advantages don’t get lower. Enrollment stood at slightly below 6.9 million individuals in May, the latest month out there, up practically 126,000 from a yr earlier and practically 193,000 from two years in the past.
NCS’s Elisabeth Buchwald contributed to this report.