As the federal government shutdown drags into its second week, millions of vulnerable Americans find themselves caught in the crossfire of political brinkmanship and bureaucratic chaos. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children—better known as WIC—has become a flashpoint in the standoff, with nearly 7 million low-income mothers, infants, and young children at risk of losing access to essential groceries and nutritional support.
The shutdown, which began on October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass a funding bill, immediately raised alarms about the fate of crucial food assistance programs. According to the Associated Press, the Trump administration this week injected $300 million into WIC, relying on unspent tariff revenues from the previous fiscal year in what White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt described on X as a “creative solution” to keep the program afloat. This move offered a temporary reprieve to states such as Alaska and Washington, which received enough funds to keep their WIC programs running through at least the end of October. The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada, which had shuttered its office on October 9 due to lack of funds, was able to reopen the following day after receiving the emergency federal infusion, as reported by KUNR radio.
But the relief is only partial and precarious. Without the $300 million stopgap, state and local governments would have been forced to step in and finance WIC from their own strained budgets—a burden many, including Washington state, simply could not shoulder. Alaska, for its part, received nearly $900,000 in federal funds this week, enough to keep WIC running through November 8, with about half a million coming from leftover funds from other programs, according to the state’s health department spokesperson Shirley Sakaye.
The stakes are enormous. WIC supports over 6 million low-income mothers, young children, and expectant parents, helping them purchase nutritious staples like fruits, vegetables, low-fat milk, and infant formula. For families living paycheck to paycheck, these benefits can mean the difference between full stomachs and empty cupboards. Yet the program’s future remains uncertain, as the government shutdown shows no sign of abating and the political battle over funding continues to rage.
“It is poor women and children who will feel the impacts first and worst,” Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation at Food & Water Watch, told Grist. The nonprofit’s analysis found that the shutdown threatens the highest proportion of children in Puerto Rico, California, and New York. The National WIC Association has warned that the program is just days away from running out of money entirely if the shutdown persists.
Meanwhile, the shutdown’s ripple effects extend far beyond WIC. Nutrition experts warn that the ongoing lapse in government funding is stripping away America’s ability to track the real-world impacts of hunger. In a controversial move, the Department of Agriculture terminated the Household Food Security Report on September 20, 2025—the nation’s primary tool for monitoring food insecurity. The USDA justified the decision by calling the survey “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous,” claiming it “does nothing more than fear monger.” This assertion was met with fierce pushback from researchers and advocates.
“Clearly the person that wrote that announcement has never read the food security report,” said Colleen Heflin, a professor at Syracuse University who studies food insecurity and welfare policy. “It is a very, very dry and clearly written report that just describes the statistics. There’s nothing about fear-mongering. [That’s] so far from the truth.”
The Household Food Security Report, established in the wake of 1990 legislation mandating nutritional monitoring, has for decades provided policymakers and communities with the most accurate, reliable, and comprehensive data on national hunger. The 2023 report revealed that 13.5 percent of American households—about 47.4 million people—struggled to afford enough food, including nearly 14 million children. Notably, food insecurity among children had jumped by 3.2 percent over the previous year.
With the loss of this dataset, experts say the nation is “driving without a speedometer.” “We’re not going to have accurate information to guide our reactions, both from a federal policy level and community level … We really are driving blind,” Heflin warned.
All of this is happening as food prices soar to their highest levels in five years, up 29 percent since 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The public safety net is fraying, too: President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” slashed an estimated $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and tightened work requirements, reducing eligibility for benefits. “People are struggling to put food on their tables, and farmers are losing support, and food banks are being pushed beyond capacity,” Jenique Jones, executive director of the nonprofit WhyHunger, told Grist. “Removing this data specifically — it silences the reality of hunger in America.”
Compounding the crisis, climate change is making food insecurity even harder to combat. Zia Mehrabi, a data scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, explained that extreme weather, rising temperatures, and the spread of pests and diseases are destabilizing food supply chains, driving up prices, and reducing the nutritional content of staple foods. “There’s really clear evidence that things like zinc, vitamin A, iron, these really important micronutrients that we are really dependent on, are going to go down with climate change,” Mehrabi said. “Climate change is putting up the price, and pushing down the nutritional content. So what do you think that’s going to do to low-income households that are trying to feed kids that need their micronutrients?”
Meanwhile, the political blame game rages on. Congressional Democrats have pushed to reverse Medicaid cuts and extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Republicans and the White House have sought to pin responsibility for the shutdown—and its impact on WIC—on Democrats. Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, accused Democrats on X of “forcing the WIC program for the most vulnerable women and children to run out this week.” Yet, as AP reports, Trump’s own budget proposals and recent House Republican bills would not have fully funded WIC, potentially forcing the program to turn away eligible applicants.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington state minced no words: “Since President Trump is now signaling he cares about the WIC program, he should finally get to the negotiating table to reopen the government. And he should immediately disavow his budget request to significantly cut benefits for millions of moms and kids — and tell House Republicans to back off their proposed cuts as well.”
As the shutdown continues, thousands of federal workers remain without pay, families teeter on the edge of the “hunger cliff,” and the nation’s ability to measure and respond to food insecurity is being systematically dismantled. “The government wants to reduce accountability. This is the big picture of what’s happening right now. You’d be blind to think this is just the USDA, just one thing. This is a whole systematic attack,” Mehrabi told Grist. “There’s a story being told that this is going to make America great again. Actually, this is going to make America worse.”
The coming weeks will reveal whether the emergency measures are enough to stave off a deeper crisis—or whether millions of Americans will be left hungrier and more invisible than ever before.
