INSTITUTE INDEX: More pain for the poor in government shutdown

Date on which the U.S. federal government shut down because Congress did not enact regular appropriations or a continuing resolution for the 2014 fiscal year due to Republican resistance to implementing the Affordable Care Act: 10/1/2013

Number of programs dedicated to offering nutritional, health, social, and other services to low-income families that were immediately affected: 20

Date on which North Carolina officials, citing the federal shutdown, announced they had discontinued issuing nutritional benefits to low-income mothers, infants and young children under the WIC program: 10/8/2013

Of the 264,000 North Carolinians enrolled in WIC, percent that immediately lost benefits because of the state's move: 20

In the two days following the state's decision, number of women seeking WIC benefits who were turned away from the public health agency in Cabarrus County, N.C. alone: 35 to 40

Budget for the WIC program in North Carolina, all of it federally funded: $205 million

Month in which N.C. budget director Art Pope sent a memo to state agencies saying no state money should be used on programs that received federal funds, leading Department of Health and Human Services officials to warn that basic safety net programs like WIC could run out of money: 10/2013

Number of other states that stopped issuing WIC vouchers because of the shutdown: 0

After public outcry over the WIC policy, date on which N.C. DHHS began issuing vouchers again: 10/11/2013

Number of employees that South Carolina's health and environment department is considering putting on leave to continue funding WIC: 3,500

Number of at-risk children nationally who could lose their Head Start slots because of the shutdown, which has already led to the closure of such programs in Florida and South Carolina: 19,000

Number of at-risk children who already lost their Head Start slots because of sequester cuts: 57,000

As of this week, number of days that Georgia's Meals on Wheels program to feed the elderly poor calculated it could keep feeding people: 15

Date that states stopped received funds through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program due to the shutdown: 10/1/2013

Of the 276 news segments that broadcast and cable channels dedicated to the shutdown during its first week, percent that mentioned its effects on programs used primarily by low-income Americans: 6.9

(Click on figure to go to source.)