Trump administration injects more temporary funding for child nutrition program

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Reuters) — President Donald Trump’s administration has released $450 million in tariff revenue to support a childhood nutrition program jeopardized by the ongoing federal government shutdown, according to federal budget records.

The partial funding aims to sustain the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides food assistance, nutrition counseling, and support to nearly 7 million low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children under age five.

The 34-day shutdown has threatened the program’s ability to continue delivering benefits.

The funds were transferred to WIC on Friday from a pool of tariff revenue designated for agricultural disaster and commodity assistance, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. The National WIC Association (NWA) said the allocation will cover roughly three weeks of benefits.

In mid-October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also tapped this fund to provide states with approximately $300 million for two weeks of WIC benefits. State agencies are expected to receive the newly released funds within the next two days, according to the NWA. 

The move comes as food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — commonly known as food stamps — remains delayed. The administration said Monday it will use contingency funds to partially cover November SNAP benefits, but that some states may need weeks or months to adjust systems and distribute the aid.

“We anticipate disruptions in SNAP may lead additional families to certify for WIC or exhaust their WIC benefits more quickly,” said Nell Menefee-Libey, senior public policy manager at the NWA. “We will be monitoring closely because WIC cannot replace the role SNAP plays for families.”

The White House declined to comment.

No Tariff Funds for SNAP 

SNAP assistance for nearly 42 million low-income Americans expired on Nov. 1 — the first lapse in the program’s six-decade history — after Congress and the administration failed to secure funding during the shutdown.

In a court filing Monday, the administration said that while tariff revenue has been used to support WIC, it will not allocate the estimated $4 billion required to fully fund November SNAP benefits from the same pool. Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at USDA, argued that diverting those funds would undermine other child nutrition programs, including school lunches. 

“Creating a shortfall in Child Nutrition Program funds to cover one month of SNAP benefits is an unacceptable risk,” Penn said. “Shifting $4 billion to SNAP merely shifts the problem to millions of low-income children who rely on school meals.”