By Zoe Neuberger*
Nov 21, 2023, 11:13 AM EST
In the coming weeks, Latino parents, expectant parents, and Low-income young children who rely on WIC to keep food on the table may find their food assistance at risk or even completely cropped. Congress missed an opportunity to provide additional funding to WIC in temporary government funding legislation passed this week.
Now, they must immediately focus on providing WIC with the full amount needed in the final funding bills in January to ensure that all eligible children and new or expectant parents can continue to receive the crucial help that WIC provides.
More than 2.5 million Latinos depend on WIC (formally known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) for healthy foods and other vital services, but funding for this program is now in jeopardy.
For decades, pregnant or postpartum parents, infants, and toddlers participating in WIC have benefited from improvements in birth outcomes, diet quality, child development, access to health care, and achievement. future educational Building on this proven track record of success, lawmakers have maintained a bipartisan commitment to providing sufficient funding each year to ensure that no eligible family is turned away from WIC.
Unfortunately, This year WIC faces a funding shortfall due to higher-than-expected food costs and participation numbers, which is an important development because only half of all eligible people participated in WIC in recent years. The shortfall jeopardizes crucial food assistance for Latino parents and young children. It is vitally important that people do not lose access to this vital program that helps pregnant participants get the nutritious foods they need to have healthy babies and also helps ensure that those babies are well nourished as they become Small children.
Current funding bills in both the House and Senate fall short of this goal and would force states to turn away 600,000 eligible postpartum adults and children under age 5. Meanwhile, under the House bill, another 4.7 million WIC participants would also see their food assistance reduced, limiting your benefit for purchasing fruits and vegetables by 58 to 71 percent. This reduction could make it difficult for WIC participants to acquire the vital nutrients they need to stay healthy.
With a looming shortfall and no guarantee that additional funds will arrive, parents and children may be placed on a waiting list when they apply for WIC or when it comes time to renew their participation in the program; instead, they may lose assistance altogether.
Under WIC prioritization rules, the first to be turned away are postpartum adults who are not breastfeeding and 3-year-old children who must renew their benefits when they turn 4. This includes more than 200,000 Latino participants who are currently pregnant and who will need to renew their benefits shortly after giving birth and more than 350,000 3-year-old Latino children.
In the current financial crisis, Latinos would be disproportionately placed on waiting lists. Long-standing barriers to accessing housing, education, employment opportunities, and other forms of discrimination have made Latinos more likely to qualify for and seek WIC assistance and, therefore, more likely to risk losing food assistance now.
This looming shortfall comes as many families are already struggling to make ends meet. Last year, food insecurity increased for families with children, while 20% of all Latino households reported they did not have enough to eat. Cuts to WIC will mean it will be even harder for these families to get nutritious food, and new parents and their young children could face nutritional deficiencies and even hunger without the support WIC provides.
With access to vital WIC assistance at risk, Congress must work to ensure that WIC has sufficient funding after January to support all eligible families seeking assistance during the crucial early stages of a child’s life.
About the author:
Zoë Neuberger, policy analyst, joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2001. She works on nutrition assistance programs. Neuberger provides analytical and technical assistance on child nutrition programs, such as WIC and school lunches, to policymakers and state nonprofit groups. She has a law degree from Yale University and a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.