Agriculture Department officials briefed Hill staff Thursday on a plan to transfer another $300 million for food aid for the program.
USDA officials have given assurances on Capitol Hill that a critical food aid program will get a cash infusion that will help it stay afloat through October if the government shutdown continues.
The plan, detailed in a USDA briefing for congressional staff, involves moving roughly $300 million in unused tariff funds from child nutrition programs left over from the prior calendar year to ensure states can continue providing food aid, infant formula and breastfeeding support to millions of low-income moms and babies, according to two Hill staffers and another person familiar with the call.
The White House said Tuesday that it would use tariff revenue to supplement the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which is burning through money as the government shutdown reaches its 10th day.
The plan deploys authority under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, which uses a percentage of customs receipts from imports to support agricultural commodities and other USDA programs, including child nutrition programs. Some leftover dollars from the child nutrition account will be moved to the WIC account.
USDA spokesperson Alec Varsamis declined to comment on the briefing but did confirm the administration’s intentions to fund the program.
“While Democrats continue to vote to prolong the government shutdown, blocking funding for mothers and babies who rely on [WIC], USDA will utilize tariff revenue to fund WIC for the foreseeable future,” Varsamis said in a statement.
States have already spent nearly all of a $150 million contingency fund to float the program. Other leftover WIC money that was recently reallocated to states is expected to fund another week and a half of program operations.
Because the contingency fund can only be used to pay benefits, states were dipping into their own coffers to pay staff salaries and other administrative costs. Without a congressional plan to reopen the government, states and other nutrition agencies that administer the WIC program have been piecing together various funds to pay staff and continue benefits, with the status of operations changing daily.
For example, the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada WIC, which serves Native and non-Native families, said earlier this week that it would shut off benefits Oct. 9. But Thursday afternoon, it announced it was reopening after receiving new funding through the reallocation process.
Mississippi has already announced that it would have to waitlist some families.
“As far as the funding questions, things are very fluid and potential options are constantly being updated,” Mississippi State Department of Health spokesperson Greg Flynn wrote in an email Thursday. “Currently, we are operating with remaining federal funds from FY25. We are hopeful this federal government shutdown will not be prolonged, but are preparing contingency plans.”
While WIC has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, it has become the center of several partisan fights over the last few years. Congressional Republicans have proposed trimming program benefits in recent years, including in its latest appropriations bill. The White House also suggested paring back the program’s popular fruit and vegetable benefit in its fiscal 2026 budget proposal.