WASHINGTON — As the federal government shutdown drags on, a food aid program for moms and young children could run out of money within a couple of weeks, Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, provides free, healthy foods for low-income pregnant women, moms and young kids through vouchers for about 111,000 Alabamians. But funding for the program expired Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. It is one of the most vulnerable programs during the funding lapse.
“The one that is really the most challenging for us to manage right now is the WIC program,” Harris told Todd Stacy on Capitol Journal last week.
In Alabama, WIC vouchers total about $120 million a year and are used in grocery stores and retailers across the state, Harris said. If the shutdown persists, the food aid program could have no funds left to help feed families in the state.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks of carry forward money we can spend, a couple of weeks’ worth, so we can keep allowing moms and babies to get that food,” Harris said. “But after that, there’s no solution that we know of. So if the shutdown goes longer than that, it’s going to be difficult.”
Gov. Kay Ivey’s spokeswoman, Gina Maiola, told Alabama Daily News that women and children who rely on programs like WIC “could be at risk” if the government does not reopen.
“The states cannot always be on the hook for Congress not doing their job,” she said in a written statement.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also warned that WIC will run out of money “very soon” if the federal government remains closed. She partook in the partisan blame game to encourage lawmakers to open the government.
“This program provides vouchers to buy infant formula, fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods for low-income families,” Leavitt said during Monday’s press briefing. “It can be easily fully funded if Democrats simply vote tonight to reopen the government.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees WIC, said the program’s operations will be based on “State choice and the length of a shutdown.”
Nationwide, more than 6 million Americans rely on WIC benefits to help feed their families.
When the government shut down, the National WIC Association, a nonprofit group of service provider agencies, said the food aid program only had enough funding for likely one or two weeks before significant disruptions occurred.
“Every day of inaction brings us closer to a crisis,” Georgia Machell, president and CEO, said in a statement. “Failure to rapidly reopen the government could result in state WIC directors being put in the horrible position of trying to manage their programs with insufficient funds.”
On Monday, Congress appeared to remain in a stalemate, as the Senate again failed to secure enough votes to advance the GOP stopgap funding bill. This week, House members will remain in their districts, away from Washington. Senators will pick back up the same measure Tuesday, and a different outcome is unlikely, barring a breakthrough between Republicans and Democrats.
Benjamin Gross, an associate political science professor at Jacksonville State University, said a prolonged shutdown could lead Americans to feel significant economic pain, which could pressure lawmakers to reach a deal to end the shutdown. But it could take a while to get to that point.
“Once people start feeling that the loss of these programs is greater than retaining to their party or to their ideology, that’s a possibility when change happens,” Gross told ADN.
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