Exclusive: Congressional Democrats set to introduce bill to shore up the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program
Michael Sainato at The Guardian:
Congressional Democrats have launched a legislative effort to protect funding for a key nutritional support program for low-income women and children. As the federal government shutdown rolls on, there are growing fears the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program could run out of money. An estimated 40% of all infants in the US use the program, which provides nutritious foods to pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants and children up to five years old, and served 6.7 million each month last year, according to official data.
“The benefits, if you lose them because of the lapse in funding, you can’t make up for it,” Robert C Scott, a Virginia congressman, told the Guardian, noting that even brief disruptions to the service could negatively impact infant and child development. “It’s a program that really should be immune to the vagaries of the annual budget process.” Scott, the top Democrat on the House education and workforce committee, and Suzanne Bonamici, an Oregon congresswoman, are set to introduce a bill – the WIC Benefits Protection Act – today, which would ensure the program remains fully funded, and not subject to any lapses during government shutdowns, by classifying it as mandatory program. The program – funded by the federal government and administered by states, tribal organizations, the District of Columbia and territories – also provides education, counseling and referral services to healthcare and social services. Scott criticized Republicans, accusing them of refusing to negotiate at all on developing a budget bill they can pass through the House and Senate. “The administration and states are shifting money around trying to make up for the lapse in funding, but we shouldn’t have all this drama and loss of services at the end of every fiscal year, when we risk a government shutdown,” he said. While WIC services have historically never lapsed during a government shutdown, state and local agencies have already begun scaling back services. A WIC office in Lyon county, Kansas, shut down this week as a result of the government shutdown.
[...] The Trump administration has said that revenues from tariffs will be used to fund WIC during the shutdown, with the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, last week hailing a “creative solution” to shore up the program. This funneled as much as $300m into WIC, officials reportedly told congressional staffers.
[...] Scott’s bill, which has about 50 Democratic co-sponsors, would amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require mandatory funding for WIC that would go into effect for fiscal year 2026 and each succeeding fiscal year.
House Democrats, led by Reps. Bobby Scott (VA) and Suzanne Bonamici (OR), seek to introduce the WIC Benefits Protection Act to ensure WIC funding is secure, even during government shutdowns, by making the program mandatory.
As of today, 68 Democrats in the House have co-sponsored the bill include Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Nikki Budzinski (IL), Wesley Bell (MO), Jasmine Crockett (TX), and Greg Landsman (OH).
See Also:
Congress.gov: Cosponsors.
