With the federal government shutdown now well into its second full week, a critical government program that serves pregnant and nursing mothers and their children is feeling the pinch.

About 100,000 South Carolinians receive free healthy meals, breastfeeding support and nutrition education through the Women, Infants and Children program, which is funded by the federal government and managed by the state Department of Public Health (DPH). One of the fathers of that program was the late U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., who wrote a highly touted policy book in 1970 called The Case Against Hunger.

Today, according to federal and state officials across the country, the federal shutdown immediately stopped the flow of funds to the states, forcing some, like Mississippi, to temporarily limi

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