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Dear Friend,

With all the debt ceiling negotiations and attacks that extremists in the
House of Representatives are making these days, one thing could be getting
lost in the mix: a major threat to the Women, Infants, and Children
Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) that could lead to the most
vulnerable losing vital access to healthy foods and breastfeeding
counseling.

This is a real emergency and we need to speak out now!

[ [link removed] ]***SIGN our letter calling on Congress to protect and robustly fund
WIC!
-> When you click the link you will automatically be signed on if we have
all your information.

Here’s what’s happening: WIC is getting attacked from all angles. The
House Republican budget not only holds our families hostage by calling for
across-the-board cuts to programs like WIC in order to raise the debt
ceiling to avoid default in the next two weeks, they also want to gut
fruit and vegetable benefits by nearly 62%, dramatically decreasing access
to nutritious foods for nearly five million women and kids enrolled in the
program. [1]

With rising food costs, and increased program participation, it is more
critical than ever that we strengthen WIC to provide pregnant people, new
moms, infants, and toddlers with the nutrition assistance, formula, and
breastfeeding counseling they so desperately need.

What would cuts like this mean to our families? States would need to
create a waitlist to get on the WIC program–a move that would be
incredibly detrimental to the well-being and health of pregnant women,
babies, and toddlers. Perhaps even more horrifying, not being able to
serve all those who qualify for WIC could lead to agencies having to make
the difficult decision of choosing between serving postpartum moms and
toddlers….a choice we should never have to make in a nation as wealthy as
the United States and that hasn’t taken place since the late 1990s.

The extremists in Congress can’t win! We need to stand up and speak out
now!

[ [link removed] ]***SIGN our letter calling on Congress to protect WIC and the nutrition
of millions of pregnant moms, babies, and toddlers!
-When you click the link you will automatically be signed on to our letter
if we have all your information.

WIC serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and
breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at
nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets,
information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and
support, and referrals to health care. It is one of the most powerful
tools we have to combat hunger and poverty and give babies a healthy start
at life!

The letter we are sending our elected leaders in Congress states the
following:

Dear Member of Congress,

With rising food costs, and increased program participation, it is more
critical than ever that we strengthen WIC to provide vital nutrition,
formula, and breastfeeding support for pregnant women, postpartum moms,
infants, and toddlers.

Congress should provide $6.3 billion in funding for WIC to serve growing
caseloads, extend the benefit bump for fruits and vegetables, and
demonstrate support for the ongoing science-based review of WIC’s food
packages.

WIC has experienced a 12% increase in child participation since 2020 and
the program is expected to serve 6.5 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, the program will
be in danger of returning to waitlists for the first time since the late
1990s.

Please support pregnant women and our families by protecting WIC from
unnecessary and damaging cuts and robustly fund the program to support
current caseloads.

Sincerely,

[ [link removed] ]Don’t forget to sign our letter to support the vital nutrition pregnant
women, new moms, infants, and toddlers need. Once you sign you can also
share this email and our action page with your friends and family and
encourage them to take action as well.

Thank you for protecting WIC and protecting our families!

-Elyssa, Hanna, Donna, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org &
MamásConPoder Team

 

References:
[1] “National WIC Association Condemns House of Representatives’ Proposed
Agriculture Appropriations Bill for Drastic Cuts to WIC.” May 17, 2023.
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