Federal funding for programs feeding thousands of young and vulnerable Iowans could run out if the government shutdown continues, according to a report from Food & Water Watch.
The national nonprofit released a map and report Thursday compiling how many children under the age of 5 across the U.S. rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) — a program that provides free food and infant care staples to participants, and one of many federal initiatives impacted by the ongoing federal government shutdown.
According to the report, there are nearly 50,000 children in Iowa under 5 who rely on WIC, representing close to 27 percent of the state’s population in this category. In the U.S., the report states just under 5.3 million children, or around 29 percent of the population, are WIC aid recipients.
“Trump and Congressional Republicans have driven America headfirst into a government shutdown. It is poor women and children who will feel the impacts first and worst,” said Food & Water Watch Managing Director of Policy and Litigation Mitch Jones in a statement. “Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley need to put food back on the table for struggling families by passing a bipartisan spending bill that protects food access.”
Grassley and Ernst have voted in favor of the GOP-led Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act and against Democrat-led legislation also aimed at ending the shutdown, both of which failed to pass through the Senate once again Thursday.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that as of May, nearly 63,000 people in Iowa were signed up for WIC. The Iowa Hunger Coalition in an online post stated WIC has the highest risk of reducing or halting services “more than any other federal nutrition program.”
States do have the ability to use their own funding to keep WIC going for their residents, according to Stateline reporting. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services did not respond Thursday to questions about allocating funding to WIC in Iowa.
On Sept. 30, just before the shutdown began, National WIC Association President and CEO Georgia Machell said in an online release the program had enough funds to run for “one to two weeks,” but the fact that the shutdown began at the start of the new fiscal year means the program could “rapidly” go through its remaining funding.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X (formerly Twitter) this week that President Donald Trump’s administration will use revenue from tariffs to provide additional funding to WIC, but gave no details as to how much funding would be provided, how soon it would come and for how long it would stretch.
The National WIC Association stated in an Oct. 7 press release that while the aid is welcomed, it is not a permanent solution to sustain the program and questions still need to be answered about how it will work. A statement from Machell in the release said WIC recipients “need long-term stability, not short-term uncertainty.”
“There is no substitute for Congress doing its job,” Machell said in the Oct. 7 statement. “WIC needs full-year funding, not just temporary lifelines. It’s imperative that leaders in Washington come together and act immediately to ensure that millions of families can continue to access the critical nutrition, care, and support they count on every day.”
Brooklyn Draisey is a Report for America corps member covering higher education for Iowa Capital Dispatch, where this story first appeared.
