Over 60,000 Iowans participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Known as WIC, the federal program provides food assistance, nutrition education and breastfeeding support and refers parents to other services.
“Nutrition is such a vital piece of child development, brain development, physical development, and the WIC program is really meant to make sure that young families are starting off on the right foot,” said Luke Elzinga, board chair at the Iowa Hunger Coalition.
But federal funding could run out soon.
The National WIC Association said Thursday that “contingency and reallocated funds [are] expected to last only about another week.”
On Tuesday, one week after the government shutdown began, a White House official told Axios the administration would fund WIC with tariffs.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt linked to the article in an X post, stating: “The Trump White House will not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats' political games.”
The National WIC Association said it had not received any updates to know how much funding the administration will provide, when it will be distributed or how long it will last.
“In the strongest possible terms, we urge Congress to come together on a bipartisan basis to avoid a situation in which programs like WIC cannot continue serving families. Families across the country deserve better than the uncertainty created by political gridlock,” the association stated.
A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement the state is monitoring the situation and is not anticipating any disruptions to services.
"Iowa WIC has received USDA contingency funding provided to states. With the contingency funding, Iowa WIC is continuing operations as usual and does not plan to implement a waitlist or make changes to our benefit participants," said Iowa HHS Director of Communications Alex Murphy.
Elzinga emphasized Iowans enrolled in WIC and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) should continue to use their benefits "until we hear any different." He added that October SNAP benefits have gone out, and the Iowa Hunger Coalition believes November SNAP benefits are safe.
But Elzinga said it's unclear how long the state can maintain the federal programs if the government shutdown drags on. Disruptions during the last government shutdown at the end of 2018 into 2019 led to Iowans running out of benefits early. Food pantries saw a spike in February 2019.
“We really hope that Congress can get a bipartisan funding proposal in place soon, end the government shutdown, make sure that SNAP and WIC are uninterrupted,” Elzinga said.
The funding uncertainty comes as changes to SNAP are expected to roll out in November, which Elzinga said is also the month Iowa food pantries typically see the greatest need.
