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Help us Strengthen WIC Through the FY24 Budget!

WIC has experienced a 17% increase in child participation since 2020 and the program is expected to serve as many as 7 million pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children in fiscal year 2024. However, the Appropriations bills currently being considered in the House and Senate would not provide WIC with the resources necessary to serve all participants, putting the program in danger of reverting to waitlists for the first time in nearly 30 years. The House Appropriations Committee even suggested a sharp cut to WIC's Cash Value Benefit, limiting access to fruits and vegetables. With rising food costs, and increased program participation, it is more critical than ever that we strengthen WIC to provide for moms, babies, and young children. Together, we can help ensure that WIC is adequately funded for increased participation, has science-based food packages for optimal nutrition, and that the fruit and vegetable benefit bump is extended into FY24 by contacting our elected representatives.

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U.S. House and Senate

Subject: Fund a Growing WIC in FY24

Message:

For nearly 50 years, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been a cost-effective investment in the next generation, delivering healthy food and nutrition support to vulnerable moms, babies, and young children. With a proven record of improved maternal and child nutrition outcomes, WIC has long enjoyed strong, bipartisan support in Congress. As a member of the WIC community, I urge you to support this crucial investment as Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations bills are finalized. Specifically, Congress should fully fund WIC to serve projected caseloads while protecting the program's science-based food package. WIC has experienced more than a 15% increase in child participation since 2020 and the program is expected to serve as many as 7 million pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children in fiscal year 2024. For decades, there has been a bipartisan commitment in Congress to provide necessary funding to serve all eligible participants. Should Congress fail to increase its investment in WIC in FY24 to reflect growing caseloads, state WIC agencies could be forced to turn eligible women and children away from the program for the first time since the 1990s, undermining years of progress in improving participation. Likewise, a cut in funding could endanger WIC's fruit and vegetable benefit, which was expanded in 2021 to provide families with access to a wider variety of produce and lead to a measurable increase in fruit and vegetable consumption among WIC-enrolled toddlers. Congress has maintained this modest, evidence-based expansion of fruits and vegetable benefits in fiscal years 2022 and 2023 with bipartisan support and should do so again in fiscal year 2024. Disappointingly, the House Appropriations Committee proposed slashing these benefits, cutting the amount of fruits and vegetables provided by WIC by 56% for kids and approximately 70% for pregnant women and new moms. These cuts would reverse years of success in measurably improving fruit and vegetable intake among WIC enrolled-children. The evidence-based increase in WIC’s fruit and vegetable benefit is also a core component of USDA’s proposed rule to update WIC’s broader food packages and bring the benefit into alignment with the latest nutrition science. The proposal promotes balance and enhances access to specific foods that deliver priority nutrients critical for growth and development at early life-stages, building the foundation for healthier lifelong eating habits. Congress should reject any policy riders that would interfere with this independent, science-based review. I urge you to support full funding for WIC to protect the program’s longstanding success in strengthening nutrition outcomes for women, infants and young children. Sincerely,

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