Since Wednesday was the beginning of the fiscal year 2026, the WIC-which provides healthy and healthy food for pregnant women with low income, new mothers and children under the age of 5-was due to the financing flow.
Instead, the government closed.
If it continues, the federal program, fully known as the Extra Nutrition Program for Women, Badr and Children, can be reached. The message of the US Department of Agriculture confirmed to the directors of the WIC Agency on Wednesday that the states will not receive their next term allocation for funds during the closure.
According to the National Association of WIC, the Non -profit call organization representing local and local WIC agencies, “destructive disturbances” may deprive millions of mothers and children from reaching nutritious foods if the government remains closed for more than a week or two.
Given that social security tests will continue to go out, the national parks remain partially open and most Medicaid and Medicare services will continue, and the WIC financing will be among the first large -scale closure of non -federal workers.
WIC – It is a program within the US Department of Agriculture – served Almost 6.8 million people As of April 2022, the latest data available. It receives funding from Congress, which is allocated by the US Department of Agriculture to the states on a quarterly basis.
From there, countries are distributing them to WIC clinics, of which there are approximately 10,000 in the country. The clinics distribute the pre -loaded cards that members use to buy healthy food foods in the participating groceries. New mothers can also purchase infant format and receive breastfeeding.
Barbie Anderson, a mother of three pregnant women, said she relied on WIC to buy healthy food since she gave birth to her older child nine years ago. She added that the family lives on her salary in Milaca, Minnesota, and the program helps them to afford the costs of fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, peanut butter and milk. She also used her to support breastfeeding.
Under normal circumstances, Anderson said, her WIC card will be re -downloaded on October 15. It is not sure whether it will happen now.
She said: “All the foods we get from WIC go to our children. So you really hurt children,” if the services stop.
During the closure, the states will have to rely on up to $ 150 million in emergency funds from the US Department of Agriculture to continue providing services, as well as a small amount of funding from the previous fiscal year in some cases, according to the National National Assembly.
Group Warning that funding may dry out within a week or two If the closure continues, depending on how countries are allocated. The Director of the Administration and Budget Office, Rosel Four Republicans in the House of Representatives, told the House of Representatives during a phone call on Wednesday that WIC is scheduled to run out of money by next week if it does not reopen the government, according to two republican exporters on the call.
“Historically, when there was a closure, WIC remained open to work, but because this one is located at the beginning of the fiscal year, there are some risks,” said Georgia Machyle, President of WIC. The Congress called for a draft financing bill that protects the program and keeps it operating without interruption.
A spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture told NBC News that the continuous WIC process depends on “the selection of the state and the length of the closure.”
“If Democrats do not finance the government, the additional nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC) will run out of funding and countries will have to choose,” the spokesman wrote in a statement.
However, some Democrats in the House of Representatives say that the federal government has the ability to keep WIC standing on its feet – if the US Department of Agriculture is committed to renewing the state’s funds used during the closure after its completion. in A message to the Minister of Agriculture, Brock RollinsActors Bobby Scott, D-FA, and Susan Bonamisi, Dore, called on the US Department of Agriculture to do so.
Anderson said that without her WIC card, she may have to stop buying oranges for her children, which feed them to increase their immune devices.
Anderson said: “My interest is wise, my children’s immunity will decrease,” adding that if she gets sick, she will also be concerned about providing the doctor’s bills.
The Anderson family lives in a rural area where food options are at reasonable prices. She said that her WIC advantages allow her to shop at the nearest grocery store, which will be outside her budget, as she said: Galon of milk there costs about 5 dollars.
“We can go to buy chips throughout the day for 99 cents, if we want to do so, in a grocery store. But what is that feeding for our children? This is nothing.”
She said that the closest Wal -Mart, where the prices are less than 45 minutes, but the price of gas makes regular shopping there too expensive.
Anderson said it is not eligible for other nutritional assistance programs such as the additional nutritional assistance program, also known as food stamps. This program is It is expected to continue during the closure. (WIC generally has a higher income than SNAP.)
The ability of WIC clinics is possible to keep performance depending on the case. Brandon Millain, director of mother and child health in Champin Urbana Public Health Province, said he was told that Illinois clinics had enough money to continue during the month.
But Meline is concerned about using the program as a bargaining in a closure policy.
He said: “This is the first time that WIC has been withdrawn to the political battle at the national level.