WASHINGTON (AP) —A food aid program that supports millions of low-income mothers and their young children received a $300 million infusion from the Trump administration this week, alleviating some anxiety that it would run out of money during the government shutdown.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children helps more than 6 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents to purchase nutritious staples like fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and infant formula. The program, known as WIC, was at risk of running out of money this month because of the government shutdown, which occurred right before it was slated to receive its annual appropriation.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said this week in a post on the social platform X that the White House had found “a creative solution” to use tariff revenues to keep the program afloat. By Thursday at least some states were receiving WIC money. Alaska and Washington said they received enough federal funds to keep their programs running until at least the end of October.