North Carolina residents receiving benefits from two federal food assistance programs will continue to do so, at least through October, despite the shutdown of the federal government, the state health department announced in an Oct. 8 news release.
In its release, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said it’s awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women, Infants and Children program, on future impacts if the shutdown were to continue into November.
The shutdown just entered its second week.
Boxes of produce sit underneath a tent during a Bounty & Soul food distribution event in Black Mountain, Sept. 18, 2025.
“Food and nutrition are foundational to good health and people should not have to worry about their families and communities going hungry,” the state’s health secretary Dr. Dev Sangvai said in the release. “NCDHHS hopes for a quick resolution to the federal shutdown to ensure people in North Carolina are not at risk of losing critical food benefits.”
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, serves 1.4 million people in North Carolina, according to the state health department.
As of April 2025, more than 29,000 Buncombe County residents participated in SNAP, according to NCDHHS data. In Henderson County, more than 9,000 people were enrolled.
Volunteers work with Bounty & Soul to distribute produce to Black Mountain residents, Sept. 18, 2025.
The Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program provides food, breastfeeding support, nutrition education and other services to approximately 262,000 people across the state, according to the department.
“Poor access to nutrition is linked to poor health outcomes for infants and children,” Yvonne Copeland, the department’s director of child and family wellbeing, said in the release. “We hope there is progress in passing a federal spending plan to ensure WIC continues to provide crucial support to North Carolina families at a time-critical stage of early childhood development.”
The federal shutdown comes just three months after Republicans in Congress passed a sweeping tax bill that is expected cut more than $250 billion from SNAP over the next 10 years.
The state health department said the bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, could put North Carolina on the hook for $420 million in extra cost share. It could even force the state to withdraw from the program entirely, which would further strain food banks and nonprofits already facing a surge of need in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene, the Citizen Times previously reported.
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Jacob Biba is the Helene recovery reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Are SNAP, WIC affected by government shutdown? What NCDHHS says
