Healthy food benefits for women, babies and children in limbo during government closure

Sarah Manasrah has received help from the supplementary nutrition program for women, babies and children, commonly known as WIC, since her first child was born six years ago.

The 37 -year -old mother who lives with her husband and two girls, who are 6 and 3 years old, in Brooklyn, New York, told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that she did not even know that the closure of the federal government could affect WIC’s benefits, which complement nutritious foods for low -income families, for her and her children.

“Families do not care. They say they do it to boost their political agenda,” Manasrah said about the Republican and Democratic members of Congress, who failed to reach an agreement to finance the government, effectively closing it on Wednesday.

Manasrah said he uses WIC’s benefits to provide about $ 27 for fresh fruits and vegetables, and assignments for a certain amount of nutritional foods specified such as eggs, whole wheat bread, milk and formula for baby without charge using an expense card provided by the government that is replenished once a month.

The mother of two children also used WIC’s breastfeeding support program through a couple counselor who helped her with her first child.

How will WIC closure affect?

The experts told ABC News that they were not sure of the exact impacts that will have a closure in the WIC beneficiaries, since each of the individual states will have to decide if they can complement the funds, and the quantities may vary according to the State.

Ali Hard, director of Public Policy of the WIC National Association, told ABC News on Tuesday that WIC beneficiaries can begin to see their affected benefits after the first or second week of the closure.

She said WIC has $ 150 million in contingency funds in case of a closure and $ 135 million in monthly formula refund controls for babies that would help the program work without problems for approximately a week or two.

After that, the new and current WIC beneficiaries will begin to see their affected benefits, especially those in areas without state funds to complement the loss of federal dollars, Hard said.

“The moment of this closure at the beginning of the new fiscal year puts WIC at risk of running out of funds,” said Hard’s Group in a statement Launched on Tuesday. “This failure unnecessarily puts the health and nutrition of millions of pregnant women, new mothers, babies and young children who depend on WIC … Every day of inaction they bring us closer to a crisis. The lack of rapidly reopened to the government could lead to WIC state directors being put in the horrible position of trying to handle their programs with insufficient funds.”

With the federal government closed, some states will have to immerse themselves in their own coffers to pay WIC’s benefits.

Democratic representatives Bobby Scott and Suzanne Bonamici sent a letter on Wednesday to the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, whose department supervises the WIC program, urging the secretary to present a plan on how the department plans to replace the state funds used to complement WIC’s benefits once the closure ends.

“The WIC program serves as a lifeguard for families; the charge of cases of the program increased by 5 percent in fiscal year 2023 of 6.4 million participants to 6.7 million, which underlines the need to completely finance the program every year without delay or uncertainty,” said the representatives in their letter.

In 2013, during a 16 -day government closure, “the states were based on their general funds to continue WIC services and were then reimbursed with federal funds once the closure ended; however, there is uncertainty about whether the federal government would take the same action this time,” said the letter.

A USDA spokesman sent ABC News a letter from the department, was dated October 1, 2025 and aimed at the directors of the Supplementary Nutrition Division in all regions that say that state agencies could extract reimbursement funds, appropriate funds by the State or general funds and contingency funds. But they were not allowed to use additional funds for fiscal year 2025 for the costs of fiscal year 2026, according to the letter.

“Nutrition programs will operate according to the election of state and the duration of a closure,” said the USDA spokesman in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday. “If the Democrats do not finance the Government, the Special Supplementary Nutrition Program for Women, Babies and Children (WIC) will run out of funds and the states will have to make a decision.”

A spokesman for the White House Administration and Budget Office also blames the Democrats.

“When instigating a government closure, the Democrats are turning their backs on WIC’s recipients,” said an OMS spokesman in a statement. “The program will run out of money in October and women and children could no longer receive benefits. The White House and Republicans in the CR with domiciliary pass added $ 600 million, so there will be no loss of benefits: clear democrats are fine with women and children who lose the benefits of WIC.”

Democrats have blamed Republicans for closing, citing what they say is a lack of will to negotiate on medical care provisions.

The administration of President Donald Trump has made notable attempts to promote families and reiterated that more babies should be born in the United States.

According to the Trump administration Make America feel healthy again the reportWIC provides exclusively nutritious foods for pregnant women and infants, women who recently had a baby and babies and children up to 5 years. WIC supplies nutritional education and support for approximately 6.7 million women and children throughout the country, according to Maha’s report.

“WIC has a proven history of improving children’s health,” according to Maha’s report. “The research has shown that the experience of the receivers improved the results of pregnancy, the best weights of birth, the greatest immunization rates, the best quality of the diet and cognitive gains … A study showed that the change of WIC 2009 food package may have helped to reverse child obesity rates increasing.”

Manasrah, the mother of the two children of Brooklyn, is a doula that supports pregnant women before birth and gives them assistance after childbirth. He also works for the non -profit Bridge project that provides money and assistance to low -income mothers during pregnancy, birth and the first days of the life of their babies.

She says that the vast majority of women with whom she works receive WIC benefits.

“Most of the families I know trust WIC for their formula, if they are using formula, and that literally keeps babies alive,” said Manasrah. “So, it is not an exaggeration to say that WIC is a program that saves lives for families.”

Eric Strauss of ABC News, Katherine Faulders, Michelle Stoddart, Arthur Jones and Hannah Demissie Contribution to this story.