Fund a Growing WIC in FY24

For nearly 50 years, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been a cost-effective investment in the next generation, delivering healthy food and nutrition support to vulnerable moms, babies, and young children. With a proven record of improved maternal and child nutrition outcomes, WIC has long enjoyed strong, bipartisan support in Congress. As a member of the WIC community, I urge you to support this crucial investment during the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations process. Specifically, Congress should fund WIC at a level that can serve projected caseload while maintaining enhanced access to fruits and vegetables for WIC families, and demonstrate support for the ongoing science-based review of WIC’s food packages. WIC has experienced a 12% increase in child participation since 2020 and the program is expected to serve at least 6.5 million pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children in fiscal year 2024. For decades, there has been a bipartisan commitment in Congress to provide necessary funding to serve all eligible participants. Should Congress fail to increase its investment in WIC in FY24 to reflect growing caseloads, the program will be in danger of returning to waitlists for the first time since the late 1990s. Likewise, a cut in WIC funding could endanger the fruit and vegetable benefit bump, which has provided families with access to a wider variety of produce and lead to a measurable increase in fruit and vegetable consumption among WIC-enrolled toddlers. Congress has proactively extended these heightened benefits in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 with bipartisan support and should do so again in fiscal year 2024. Recently, however, the House Appropriations Committee proposed slashing these benefits, cutting the amount of fruits and vegetables provided by WIC by 56% for kids and approximately 70% for pregnant women and new moms. These cuts would reverse years of success in improving fruit and vegetable intake among WIC enrolled-children, made possible by the benefit bump. The evidence-based increase in WIC’s fruit and vegetable benefit is also a core component of USDA’s proposed rule to update WIC’s broader food packages and bring the benefit into alignment with the latest nutrition science. The proposal promotes balance and enhances access to specific foods that deliver priority nutrients critical for growth and development at early life-stages, building the foundation for healthier lifelong eating habits. Congress should reject any policy riders that would interfere with this independent, evidence-based review. I urge you to provide WIC with the resources and support necessary to continue the program’s longstanding success in strengthening nutrition outcomes for women, infants and young children.