RALEIGH – A state-run program that gets federal dollars to ensure proper nutrition for pregnant women and their young children won’t issue any vouchers beyond those already given out for October.

Officials say the federal government shutdown is the reason that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children stopped issuing vouchers Tuesday.

About 80 percent of eligible clients have received benefits for October. Officials with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services say they don’t have enough money to issue more vouchers.

DHHS officials say families who don’t get the WIC vouchers can apply for food stamps.

The WIC program provides food vouchers, nutrition education and health care referrals for 264,000 women and children monthly in North Carolina. The federal government pays the program’s $200 million cost.