WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the Senate passed legislation funding several executive branch agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year, including the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Included in USDA’s nutrition title is a funding increase of more than $1 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). The bill now heads to President Biden for signature.
The following is a statement from Georgia Machell, Interim President & CEO of the National WIC Association.
“Congress has finally done the right thing for the nearly seven million women, babies, and young children who rely on WIC each day for critical nutrition and health support. This desperately-needed funding increase will ensure that current WIC members will continue to receive their benefits, and that prospective WIC participants can be welcomed to the program rather than turned away.
We are both pleased and relieved to see the return of bipartisan support for WIC’s mission — a mainstay of the program for decades that must continue uninterrupted. In particular, we are deeply grateful for allies such as Rep. Rosa DeLauro, and Sens. Patty Murray and Susan Collins, who helped negotiate the successful funding outcome that all WIC participants deserve. And we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the tens of thousands of state and local WIC agency staff who have worked diligently for months to ensure WIC was operating smoothly and efficiently in every community even when funding remained uncertain.
With funding secured, members of Congress and the Biden Administration should now turn their attention to continuing to grow and modernize WIC so the program can reach more eligible families. We look forward to the Administration’s forthcoming rule updating the nutrition standards for the WIC food packages. We urge Congress to build on this bipartisan success, capitalizing on this crucial opportunity to continue to support WIC’s growth and innovation. WIC must be top priorities for policymakers amid troubling increases in poverty, hunger, and maternal mortality in the United States.
Fifty years after its founding, WIC is pivotal to the health and wellbeing of millions of families across the United States. That is how WIC has always been, and must always remain.”