Following weeks of an escalating feud between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a growing number of increasingly combative Republicans, a chaotic government shutdown was narrowly avoided this weekend, though just by a matter of minutes.
Late Saturday night, McCarthy moved to pass a temporary bill — which will keep the government funded through November 17 — with support from Democrats, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden right before the midnight Saturday into Sunday deadline. This enabled many in Corporate America to breathe a sigh of relief as lead economists predicted that a shutdown would affect the national economy and slow spending leading into the holiday season.
"While brinkmanship is never the answer, we are pleased that the 'adults' stepped up to prevent a shutdown and the direct harm it would have caused to millions of Americans and American small businesses who would have been impacted," Neil Bradley, chief policy officer at the US Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement this weekend.
However, for many of our country's most vulnerable, this close call was just another reminder of how flimsy the safety net supporting hungry Americans already is. If the government had shut down, nearly 7 million women and children who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) would have lost their benefits — benefits that some Republicans are still eager to slash.
In a September 25 brief, a White House spokesperson described the ongoing budget conflict by saying that "extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples' lives and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would have damaging impacts across the country."
"During an Extreme Republican Shutdown, women and children who count on WIC would soon start being turned away at grocery store counters, with a federal contingency fund drying up after just a few days and many states left with limited WIC funds to operate the program," the statement read. "And the reason food assistance for these families is at risk is extreme House Republicans' continued efforts to slash funding for vital programs, including WIC, rather than work in a bipartisan manner to keep the government open and address emergency needs for the American people."
Just a few days prior, Kate Franken, the board chair of the National WIC Association, strongly urged Congress to reach a deal that would avoid shutdown as millions of pregnant women, babies and young children would not have the nutrition support they needed to thrive.
"Without the urgent investment of additional funds, state WIC offices could soon be forced to consider waiting lists for prospective participants — a drastic step not seen in nearly 30 years," Franken said in a statement.
She continued: "We simply cannot cross that line. Congress must live up to its responsibility to all those who depend on the program, providing sufficient funding in a continuing resolution to ensure no one is turned away from WIC in the short term and full funding in a year-end spending package to support WIC's critical mission moving forward."
Following the passage of the temporary funding bill, Franken released a second statement saying that for families who rely on WIC to put food on the table and receive pregnancy and postpartum support, the legislation provides only temporary peace of mind.
"Because the fact remains that there is still a lot of work to do. Congress must next pass an appropriations bill that includes full funding for WIC to meet its expected rise in caseloads for the rest of the fiscal year," she wrote.
As Politico reported in May, reducing WIC funding has always been part of the GOP's proposal to fund the government through fiscal 2024. According to their initial plan, WIC would have been funded at $6 billion, however that is $300 million less than the president's budget called for and included other funding slashes.
The proposal would have rescinded $500 million in unspent funds for the program, according to reporter Garrett Downs, and would have also cut the cash voucher for WIC recipients, known as the fruit and vegetable benefit. This means that many recipients would end up with around only $11 to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables for the month.
This uncertainty surrounding the future of WIC funding comes at a time when more and more Americans are already facing food insecurity, a problem experts had referred to as a "looming hunger cliff." It is largely the result of post-pandemic benefit cuts, grocery inflation and an unprecedented change in SNAP work requirements for older recipients.
For now, the government has avoided a shutdown for at least the next six weeks. However, questions remain about whether WIC will ever be fully funded with the GOP standing in the way.
"No one who needs WIC should be turned away, ever," Franken said. "Congress must fully fund WIC to avoid any service delivery disruptions and refrain from implementing waitlists for the first time in 30 years. Anything less is indefensible."
