After North Carolina announced last month that its nutrition assistance program which serves 264,000 low-income women and children, had run out of federal funds, the state reversed course.

About 80 percent of its Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) vouchers were already distributed for October, but the state’s Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday funds for the remaining 20 percent did not exist due to the government shutdown. On Thursday, state budget director Art Pope told the Charlotte News & Observer that the program had allocated the money.

Pope told the News & Observer that “one reason the program has breathing room is that vouchers aren’t all spent in the month they are issued.”

Thursday evening, DHHS announced that local health departments were instructed to resume issuing WIC vouchers, according to the Observer.

(h/t Think Progress)

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