Senators Booker, Stabenow and Representatives Underwood, Frankel, McBath, Adams Lead 163 Colleagues in Calling for Full WIC Funding for 2024 Fiscal Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and U.S. Representatives Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), Lois Frankel (D-FL-22), Lucy McBath (D-GA-07), and Alma Adams (D-NC-12) led over 160 Senate and House Democrats in a letter calling on congressional leaders to ensure any final appropriations package fully funds the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the 2024 fiscal year.

WIC is a critical nutrition program for mothers and their young children, that has a robust track record of yielding numerous and lasting health benefits for participants by providing healthy food, breastfeeding support, nutrition education, health care referrals and other key interventions. If Congress fails to fully fund WIC, up to two million mothers and their children will likely lose access to the program, or be unable to enroll.

Since 1997, Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, fully funded WIC each year. Senator Booker and 168 Congressional colleagues firmly emphasized that once again, WIC must be fully funded so that all eligible applicants are able to enroll.

“WIC is a vital lifeline for millions of vulnerable American families. It provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, health care referrals, and other important services to nearly 7 million low-income pregnant and postpartum participants, infants, and young children nationwide,” the lawmakers wrote. “For more than 25 years, there has been a bipartisan commitment to provide adequate funding for WIC to serve every eligible family that relies on the program and to ensure that those in need are not turned away. At the foundation of this commitment is substantial evidence of WIC’s positive impacts on the health and development of its participants.”

The lawmakers detailed the risks of not adequately funding the program, writing, “If Congress fails to fully fund WIC, states will soon be forced to start turning eligible families away. Eligible applicants and current participants, primarily postpartum women who are not breastfeeding and children, could be put on waiting lists— leaving them without the services they rely on indefinitely. There are more than half a million current WIC participants who are pregnant and will need to renew their benefits shortly after giving birth. Under a funding shortfall, some of these new mothers could see their benefits halted. These new moms would lose access to WIC’s nutritious foods at a time that is critical for their health and their child’s development. Such devastating outcomes would disproportionately impact people of color, who are already at higher risk for severe pregnancy-related health issues including maternal mortality.”

“America’s maternal health crisis is growing worse by the day, and further disruption to WIC in the coming months would be catastrophic. As you work to finalize a government funding package, we urge you to fully fund WIC and protect vulnerable women and children from losing access to the vital support that WIC provides. Thank you for your attention to this important matter,” the lawmakers concluded. 

Georgia Machell, Interim President & CEO of the National WIC Association, said, “For nearly three decades, there has been a bipartisan tradition to provide WIC with the resources to serve every eligible family that walks in the front door. As we enter WIC’s 50^th year, this should be a time of celebration for the program, but instead, we are facing the possibility of waiting lists for the first time in a generation. WIC has made huge strides in recent years to modernize service delivery, enhance outreach efforts, and make evidence-based updates to the food benefit—all of these have been successful in enabling the program to reach more eligible families. Congress must ensure WIC remains a reliable resource to our nation’s moms, babies, and kids. Failure to do so would be an abdication of responsibility.”

The letter is consigned by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bob Casey (D-PA), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-MN), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raphael G. Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR); U.S. Representatives Colin Allred (D-TX-32), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-04), Becca Balint (D-VT), Nanette Barragan (D-CA-44), Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE-AL), Suzanna Bonamici (D-OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY-16), Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), Julia Brownlet (D-CA-37), Nikki Budzinski (D-MI-06), Cori Bush (D-MO-01), Gregorio Kilili Camacho (D-AL), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-07), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Tony Cardenas (D-CA-29), Andre Carson (D-IN-07), Troy Carter (D-LA-02), Sean Casteen (D-IL-06), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Judy Chu (D-CA-27), Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO-05), Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), Gerald Connoly (D-VA-11), J. Correa (D-CA-46), Joe Courtney (D-CT-02), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-100), Jason Crow (D-CO-06), Sharice Davids (D-KS-03), Donald Davis (D-IL-07), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-11), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Dwight Evans (D-PA-03), Valerie Foushee (D-NC-23), Maxwell Frost (D-IL-05), Jesús García (D-IL-04), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Daniel Goldman (D-FL-16), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Al Green (D-TX-09), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-03), Jahana Hayes (D-CT-05), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Val Hoyle (D-OR-02), Glenn Ivey (D-MD-04), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-02), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), Henry Johnson (D-GA-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-54), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), William Keating (D-MA-09), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Daniel Kildee (D-MI-05), Andy Kim (D-NJ-03), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Greg Landsman (D-OH-01), Rick Larsen (D-WA-02), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Summer Lee (D-PA-34), Susie Lee (D-NV-03), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), Stephen Lynch (D-MA-08), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Doris Matsui (D-CA-06), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-09), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), James McGovern (D-MA-02), Grace Meng (D-NY-06), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Joseph Morelle (D-NY-25), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL-97), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06), Kevin Mullin (D-CA-22), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10), Grace Napolitano (D-CA-32), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Eleanor Norton (D-DC-AL), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Chris Pappas (D-NH-01), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ-09), Donald Payne (D-NJ-10), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12), Mary Peltola (D-UT-03), Scott Peters (D-CA-52), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-07), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01), Stacey Plaskett (D-VI-AL), Katie Porter (D-CA-45), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-04), Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Raul Ruiz (D-CA-36), Patrick Ryan (D-NY-19), Andrea Salinas (D-OR-38), Linda Sánchez (D-CA-38), John P. Sarbanes (D-MD-03), Mary Scanlon (D-PA-05), Janice Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Adam Schiff (D-CA-28), Bradley Schneider (D-IL-10), Kim Schrier (D-WA-08), Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08), Eric Sorensen (D-WI-07), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01), Haley Stevens (D-MI-11), Emilia Strong Sykes (D-OH-13), Shri Thanedar (D-MI-03), Mike Thompson (D-CA-05), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), Jill Tokuda (D-HI-23), Paul Tonko (D-NY-20), Norma Torres (D-CA-35), Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15), Lori Trahan (D-MA-03), Juan Vargas (D-CA-51), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY-07), Maxine Waters (D-CA-43), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), and Nikema Williams (D-GA-05).

The full text of the letter can be found here.