I am urging you, as my representative, to speak out on behalf of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and to work to secure additional funding in the next short-term FY 24 appropriations package.
This additional funding is critically necessary to ensure that WIC can continue to provide all eligible women, infants, and young children who need to participate with the full, science-based prescriptive food benefit, along with WIC’s wide range of other health and nutrition services.
Failure to include this funding in the next short-term appropriations bill will result in waiting lists and an interruption in benefits. WIC has a track record of reducing hunger, improving diet quality, and preventing disease. Participants in WIC are four times more likely to be food secure than eligible nonparticipants, and enrollment during pregnancy is associated with a decreased risk of household food insecurity after birth. Over decades, Congress, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, has provided WIC with the necessary resources to serve all eligible women, infants, and young children.
Funding for WIC is needed now in the next short-term spending bill (CR) in order to ensure uninterrupted participation, benefits, and services. The remaining full funding is needed to provide this level of full support for WIC in the final FY 2024 appropriations package. Thanks.
