The federal government is hurtling toward a shutdown. To date, Congress has been unable to find a pathway forward to fund the government beyond Saturday, September 30, which marks the end of the federal fiscal year. If lawmakers aren’t able to pass a temporary spending plan by Saturday to avert a shutdown, there will be major consequences for several critical child nutrition programs.
Here’s when those impacts will be felt.
Within Days: Assistance for Mothers and Young Children
WIC, or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, provides crucial nutrition benefits and other essential services to nearly 7 million kids under the age of five and women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum.
USDA is already warning that those benefits will run dry within days of the shutdown. That means millions of new mothers, infants and young children won’t be able to use those benefits to buy things like formula, milk and fresh produce.
Within Weeks: Grocery Benefits for Families Impacted
Families who already use or or recently enrolled in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) will still receive benefits in October even if the government shuts down. However, an extended shutdown could put future benefits in jeopardy. If that happens, 42 million Americans, including 1 in 5 children, could lose their grocery benefits.
Within Weeks: School Meals for Students Impacted
Likewise, the school meals programs will continue through October using USDA reserve funding, but these funds are not without limit. An extended shutdown could cause payment disruptions to operators, putting millions of kids at risk of missing free and reduced-price meals at school.
Families should not have to choose between buying food or paying a medical bill, or feeding their kids and keeping the lights on, but a government shutdown will trigger those types of difficult trade-offs for families with the fewest resources and the greatest needs. We urge the House and Senate to pass the temporary spending plan that’s already been introduced in the Senate in order to prevent the confusion and chaos of a shutdown from impacting millions of Americans.
Lawmakers must keep the federal government running to protect moms, children and families from undue hunger and hardship.
