White House Will Use Tariffs To Fund Low-Income Food Aid Program During Shutdown

How’s your shutdown going so far? 

So far, no mass firings. The sky is intact. Cats are not sleeping with dogs. And low-income food aid isn’t at risk, after the White House found funding to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (also known as WIC) afloat using tariff revenues “for the foreseeable future,” a White House official tells Axios. 

The program — which provides vouchers for healthy food, breastfeeding assistance and nutritional education — was in danger of running out of funding within weeks amid the government shutdown. 

The tariff money infusion was described as a temporary fix by a White House official, who said that the Office of Management and Budget had worked to find a “creative solution” to preserve WIC. 

In 2024, the federal government spent over $7 billion to fund the program, which benefits over 6 million people in the United States. 

“President Trump and the White House have identified a creative solution to transfer resources from Section 232 tariff revenue to this critical program,” White House spox Karoline Leavitt told the outlet. “The Trump White House will not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats’ political games.” 

Said creative solution came one day after CNN and other outlets ‘sounded the alarm’ over ‘Millions of moms and young kids’ who could ‘lose WIC food assistance within two weeks.’