Food aid for mothers and children faces a funding gap

For the first time in decades, many states could turn away eligible applicants from an assistance program that provides crucial access to food to low-income women and their children.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, a federally funded program known as WIC, has traditionally received bipartisan support from lawmakers. But the broader push for cuts among some Republicans in the House of Representatives has threatened the program’s ability to provide benefits to every eligible person who signs up.

The Agriculture Department warned last month that the program could create a $1 billion shortfall and that millions of eligible pregnant and postpartum women and their children are at risk of missing out on nutrition assistance this year if Congress does not increase funding.

Some Republicans in the House of Representatives have been pushing for this maintaining financing at approximately the same level as in recent years, despite a recent increase in the number of participants. The effort is part of a larger push among conservatives to rein in federal spending in an effort to address the nation’s rising debt burden.

Lawmakers have been divided for months over the level of federal spending, raising the risk of a partial government shutdown this month. Congress passed an emergency measure in November allowing states to continue normal WIC program operations. But lawmakers are facing a Jan. 19 deadline to extend the funding.

The leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives said on Sunday that they had reached an overarching agreement on overall government spending. However, that deal was met with resistance from far-right lawmakers, and it is unclear whether Congress will increase funding for WIC.

WIC is not rights programand Congress does not need to provide funds to give every eligible person the opportunity to participate. But Congress has committed to fully funding the program for the past 25 years, meaning states have largely been able to provide benefits to every eligible applicant.

State and federal officials say program costs have increased due to a spike in enrollment and higher food costs. There were advantages too expanded during the pandemic to allow families to buy more fruits and vegetables, as some Republicans have pushed for scale back.

Federal officials were not yet aware that states were turning to waiting lists, a senior Department of Agriculture official said. Last month, department officials said the impact of a funding shortfall will probably be felt in the last months of the budget year, as financial resources are shrinking, and some states may have to suspend benefits as a last resort.

Participation in WIC grew substantially last year, which could reflect the end of some pandemic-era aid, such as expanded food stamp benefits, and food inflation that strained household budgets, the department official said. Federal and state officials have also worked in recent years to expand reach and remote services to make accessing the program easier.

In fiscal year 2023, average monthly participation in the program grew 5 percent from the previous year, with a total of approximately 6.6 million participants. according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. The year before marked the for the first time in over ten years that overall participation increased.

About half of all babies born in the United States receive WIC benefits. Research has shown that children who participate eat more nutritious foods and do so more often have better long-term health. Spending on the program has also been linked to reduced infant mortality and preterm birth, along with savings in health care costs after birth. according to studies.

If lawmakers don’t extend the funding by Jan. 19, states would have enough money to provide WIC benefits through the end of March, a Department of Agriculture official said.

Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said it was unclear whether much progress could be made by Jan. 19, but that lawmakers could approve a short-term extension of current funding levels through next month, allowing them would get more money. time to reach an agreement. Still, she said increasing funding for WIC was “non-negotiable.”

“I hope that we will avoid listening to those who are the most extreme Republicans in the House of Representatives, and that we will truly honor a long-standing commitment to get WIC the funding it needs,” said Ms. DeLauro .

The impasse has raised concerns among some government agencies responsible for managing the program’s funding. Kate Franken, Minnesota’s WIC director, said that if Congress did not increase funding, the state would likely have to start putting candidates on waiting lists in the coming months, something officials haven’t done in about three decades.

Pregnant women, infants and children at higher nutritional risk would be prioritized, with postpartum women and children older than 1 year the first to be placed on waiting lists, she said.

Program costs have increased because of higher participation and food costs, Ms. Franken said. Officials saw an uptick in participation after the end of some pandemic-era benefits and after they began offering more remote services, including an online application.

Ms Franken said around 32,000 eligible people in the state could be turned away if there is a funding gap, citing a analysis last month from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-wing think tank.

Tiare Sanna, the director of Oregon’s WIC program, said the debate over funding the program came at a particularly bad time, given the growth in enrollment and high food costs, and she worried that lawmakers might not have enough money would provide.

“I’m not very optimistic,” Ms. Sanna said.

Katie Bergh, co-author of the analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said it was encouraging to see participation grow because WIC is typically underutilized, but inadequate funding can lead states to pull back on outreach. Ms. Bergh and her co-authors also argued that families could be discouraged from applying in coming years if states turned away applicants. In 2021, only 51 percent of eligible people participatedaccording to data from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Kelly Horton, director of the program at the Food Research and Action Center, said she expected participation in the program to continue to grow this year, given the rising number of people in poverty and individuals struggling with food insecurity.

In 2022, 12.8 percent of households, or 17 million households, will were food insecure According to the Department of Agriculture, at some point during the year they struggled to provide enough food for all their members. That was an increase compared to 10.2 percent a year earlier.

“This program is simply vital,” Ms Horton said. “If you don’t have it, that means someone is going hungry.”

For some families, WIC has helped them manage costly expenses. Ebony Jeje, 46, a community support worker and mother of three in Washington, D.C., said her youngest son has been receiving help through the program for about two years, which has helped her save more than $100 on her monthly groceries.

“That’s more money that can go to my other accounts,” she said.

The benefits also allow her to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables for her family instead of processed foods like frozen chicken nuggets, she said. And the program initially helped her pay for some of the milk her son needed after he was born prematurely.

Georgia Machell, the interim president of the National WIC Association, said the growth in participation could make this a “really positive moment” but that it was difficult to predict what lawmakers would do.

“It is, quite frankly, ridiculous that we find ourselves in a situation where there is not enough funding,” Ms Machell said.