HOUSE BILL WOULD UNDERFUND WIC

The 2014 agriculture appropriation bill that a House subcommittee is considering would underfund WIC and could result in the denial of WIC benefits and services to thousands of eligible women and children at nutritional risk.  And it would effectively end the part of the program that provides breastfeeding counseling to pregnant women and new mothers. The bill bars using WIC funds for the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program if that means there wouldn’t be sufficient funds to serve all eligible low-income applicants for nutrition vouchers.  This prohibition would force WIC to cancel the breastfeeding program for most or all of the fiscal year, since the bill’s WIC funding level ($6.655 billion) very likely would be insufficient. And even if it turned out to be enough, USDA would have to withhold the breastfeeding funds until late in the fiscal year.

Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 6/5/13, WIC Funding