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Congress Must Act to Fully Fund WIC in 2024, Or Risk Nutrition Security for Millions of Women, Infants and Children

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2023 – The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provided vital nutrition assistance to nearly 6.7 million pregnant women, new mothers, babies, and young children across the country in September of this year (see table). For the past 25 years, Congress, on a bipartisan basis, has committed to fully funding WIC to serve every eligible pregnant woman, infant, mother, and child who applies. But this year, despite repeated Administration requests, Congress has yet to fully fund this vital program. Without the necessary additional funding, millions of eligible pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children are at risk of missing out on WIC’s critical nutrition assistance at some point next year.

WIC costs are higher this year than last year, in part because more eligible people are signing up for the program – meaning more pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children are getting access to nutritious food and important health resources they need to thrive. However, in the two Continuing Resolutions enacted so far this year, Congress did not provide the additional $1 billion in estimated funding needed to ensure WIC can serve all those who seek its services in fiscal year 2024.

It is critical that Congress provide additional funding for WIC in the January appropriation. The longer Congress puts off fully funding WIC, the greater the risk to mothers, babies, and children seeking nutrition and health support from the program. Through the two recent Continuing Resolutions, Congress has indicated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and states should spend current funding at a faster rate in order to serve everyone who is eligible for the first half of the fiscal year (or through March 2024), but they haven’t provided the funds to cover the program once those resources run out. That means that if Congress does not address the needed funding when they ultimately pass a full-year appropriation, the impact of cuts would be magnified because USDA will have to absorb all of them in the final months of the fiscal year.

To illustrate the scale of the funding shortfall at this point in the year: If Congress were to fund the program at the current, lower Continuing Resolution level for the remaining months of the fiscal year, the $1 billion shortfall that will occur is equivalent to 1.5 months of benefits for all program beneficiaries. The $1 billion shortfall also equals the estimated cost of providing six months of benefits to all pregnant women and infants participating in WIC.

A federal funding shortfall of this magnitude presents states with difficult, untenable decisions about how to manage the program. Many states would likely implement waiting lists for applicants to reduce costs. Under program rules, waiting lists would be implemented first for non-breastfeeding postpartum women, next for children ages 1 to 5 years old who do not have higher-risk medical issues, and then for pregnant and breastfeeding women and infants who do not have higher-risk medical issues. But given the size of the funding shortfall, it is likely that waiting lists would stretch across all participant categories, affecting both new applicants and mothers, babies, and young children enrolled in the program who are up for renewal of benefits.

To provide a sense of the number of people whose benefits could be at risk if states turned to waiting lists, even for short periods, USDA estimates that 810,000 eligible people apply for WIC services in a given month nationwide, which includes those new to the program and those whose WIC benefits are up for renewal. Many states would likely have to utilize waiting lists for an extended period to address the funding gap that would result if Congress funded WIC at the Continuing Resolution level for the rest of the year.

Estimated Number of Applicants WIC Clinics Process Monthly in FY 2024

Infants

170,000

Children

370,000

Pregnant

110,000

Breastfeeding

80,000

Postpartum

70,000

Total

810,000

Indeed, it is possible that even waitlisting applicants and taking other cost-cutting measures like reducing clinic hours would not be enough to close the shortfall. In that case, some states might be forced to discontinue or suspend benefits for current participants – which is allowed by program rules as a last resort.

Cutting off access to WIC for pregnant women, new mothers, and infants and children would have severe and harmful consequences. An abundance of research shows the critical role that WIC plays in supporting maternal health and child development. WIC participation during pregnancy is associated with lower risk of preterm birth, lower risk of low birthweight, and lower risk of infant mortality. Children on WIC are also more likely to consume a healthier diet, and this impact grows the longer a child stays on WIC.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service recently found that household food insecurity increased last year, at a time when significant safety net enhancements that helped people through the worst of the pandemic began to end, and the enhanced Child Tax Credit enacted in the American Rescue Plan expired. More than half of food insecure families reported gaining assistance through federal nutrition programs like WIC to make ends meet—an indication of how important the programs are in helping to support families, and what’s at risk if Congress cuts or underfunds them.

Nearly 40 percent of America’s infants participate in WIC, which is available only to pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and children who meet income guidelines and are determined to be at nutritional risk by a health professional. Families with young children, particularly infants, can struggle to make ends meet. The Biden-Harris Administration understands this and is committed to giving America’s children the healthiest start at a good life. Curbing access to nutrition security programs like WIC is counter to this effort and instead punishes parents and children.

Appendix:

Table A1: State WIC Participation, September 2023

 

Pregnant Women

Breastfeeding Women

Postpartum Women

Infants

Children

Total

Alabama

11,819

4,632

9,186

28,972

59,416

114,025

Alaska

1,180

1,455

438

2,979

8,159

14,211

American Samoa

306

321

122

650

2,488

3,887

Arizona

9,945

11,295

7,976

31,336

80,253

140,805

Arkansas

6,716

3,344

5,347

16,838

31,619

63,864

California

79,143

86,359

41,168

176,732

595,306

978,708

Colorado

6,680

8,455

5,178

18,961

50,966

90,240

Connecticut

4,089

3,390

2,493

11,615

25,566

47,153

Delaware

1,757

1,460

1013

4,607

11,774

20,611

District of Columbia

1,008

1,440

607

3,108

5,968

12,131

Florida

34,025

40,606

18,384

93,613

219,336

405,964

Georgia

21,387

16,389

13,237

58,158

116,649

225,820

Guam

358

497

307

1,290

3,587

6,039

Hawaii

1,839

2,610

865

5,142

14,411

24,867

Idaho

2,303

3,238

1,348

6,504

17,575

30,968

Illinois

15,041

13,928

9,064

43,706

84,490

166,229

Indiana

10,893

12,824

9,496

34,463

81,080

148,756

Iowa

4,460

4,659

3,276

13,337

33,312

59,044

Kansas

4,046

3,810

2,652

10,549

26,520

47,577

Kentucky

8,992

6,127

6,903

24,810

58,493

105,325

Louisiana

9,521

6,640

10,022

28,869

43,248

98,300

Maine

1,365

1,556

702

3,961

10,539

18,123

Maryland

10,771

11,948

5,351

27,305

65,741

121,116

Massachusetts

9,145

10,477

5,068

23,723

75,597

124,010

Michigan

16,992

11,617

11,600

43,411

118,587

202,207

Minnesota

7,842

9,757

4,479

21,483

60,462

104,023

Mississippi

5,004

3,569

5,646

18,216

29,563

61,998

Missouri

8,956

7,564

6,447

24,334

45,749

93,050

Montana

1,131

1,216

598

2,961

7,979

13,885

Nebraska

2,536

3,026

2,003

7,400

21,567

36,532

Nevada

3,753

4,571

3,311

12,068

30,112

53,815

New Hampshire

911

905

507

2,285

8,072

12,680

New Jersey

11,289

16,966

6,783

33,525

95,178

163,741

New Mexico

3,284

3,850

2,205

9,229

18,996

37,564

New York

29,992

45,665

15,288

87,489

246,132

424,566

North Carolina

19,291

19,886

12,908

53,547

124,796

230,428

North Dakota

714

718

505

2,116

5,814

9,867

Ohio

12,969

14,646

14,315

43,995

95,836

181,761

Oklahoma

7,932

4,914

4,484

18,537

35,933

71,800

Oregon

6,083

7,165

3,643

14,622

47,224

78,737

Pennsylvania

12,898

10,529

15,469

40,188

98,807

177,891

Puerto Rico

8,595

5,521

5,170

15,047

54,696

89,029

Rhode Island

1,457

1,343

1,163

3,932

9,911

17,806

South Carolina

8,077

6,353

6,220

22,762

52,286

95,698

South Dakota

1,095

1,100

612

3,090

7,735

13,632

Tennessee

12,838

10,698

9,704

33,917

67,072

134,229

Texas

68,967

109,222

33,291

188,906

391,820

792,206

Utah

3,628

4,748

2,211

10,531

23,729

44,847

Vermont

781

1,032

378

1,822

6,725

10,738

Virginia

203

392

56

600

1,323

2,574

Virgin Islands

8969

8232

7343

26391

66,367

117,302

Washington

11,199

9,755

7,607

25,807

76,771

131,139

West Virginia

3,143

1,816

2,679

8,308

21,600

37,546

Wisconsin

6,698

6,515

5,180

19,099

53,360

90,852

Wyoming

600

679

450

1,716

4,126

7,571

Northern Mariana Islands

216

241

86

471

1,701

2,715

Indian Tribal Organizations

3,816

2,819

2,719

9,956

26,549

45,859

TOTAL

548,648

594,490

355,263

1,478,989

3,678,671

6,656,061

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