Republicans push to gut food aid program that helps feed half of all infants in U.S.

Insisting they have to make tough cuts to government spending, some House Republicans are pushing to gut a decades-old federal program that helps feed 53% of all infants born in the United States, along with women through and up to six weeks after their pregnancies, breastfeeding women, and children up until the age of 5.

WIC, officially the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, is a program under the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The USDA notes that it is "not an entitlement program as Congress does not set aside funds to allow every eligible individual to participate in the program. WIC is a federal grant program for which Congress authorizes a specific amount of funds each year for the program."

Despite the growth in both population and food prices, some House Republicans, like U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), oppose increasing funding for WIC, according to Politico.

"At stake: whether the government will have to begin turning away large numbers of mothers and their children from the program," Politico reports, noting House Republicans are "pushing to pare back WIC spending this year, arguing tough cuts are needed across the government amid the nation’s mounting debt."

Aderholt suggested putting the onus on the USDA to ask the White House for more funds, rather than appropriate funds to meet the expenses WIC knows are coming. The Alabama GOP Congressman "who chairs the House Appropriations panel on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, recently argued there’s nothing stopping USDA from requesting more funding from the Office of Management and Budget for WIC if the program runs short during the stop-gap period," Politico reported.

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“If this becomes a problem, that’s because the administration is purposefully making it a problem for not allocating these necessary funds,” Aderholt, the chair of the House Values Action Team (VAT), said. But Congress, not the White House, is responsible for funding WIC, which up until now has always been bipartisan.

"Without congressional action," Politico adds, "Minnesota WIC director Kate Franken said states will be forced to add families to wait lists for the first time in nearly 30 years."

“If WIC funding is not adequate, and funds are cut, our families and our communities would suffer the consequences,” Franken said.

Last year, Aderholt was among many Republicans and Democrats furious over the baby formula shortage, but was also one of the 192 House Republicans who voted against legislation to help the FDA address the problem, which was "triggered by a safety recall."

Last week, Aderholt introduced a 2024 funding bill he said cuts "almost 30% and will bring funding back to roughly 2018 Trump-era levels."

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The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities last week noted House bills would take "away food assistance from hundreds of thousands of new parents and young children by underfunding WIC."

"The House Agriculture bill’s WIC funding is well below the level needed to serve all eligible families who wish to participate, and would result in an estimated 600,000 new parents, toddlers, and preschoolers being turned away," the nonprofit think tank reported. "The House bill would also cut WIC’s science-based fruit and vegetable benefit by between 58 and 71 percent (depending on the recipient’s age) for 4.7 million of the remaining participants."

Earlier this month the President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, noting his continuing resolution to keep the federal government open "doesn’t provide additional funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) so that postpartum participants and young children aren’t turned away from vital food assistance."