John,

Between January and March of 2023, participation in WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) already exceeded USDA projections for all of FY2024. Food prices are still high and poverty is rising, so more families need nutrition assistance.

This means that Congress needs to increase WIC funding to keep pace with the need.

This upcoming week, the Senate will vote on a spending package including their nutrition funding bill—and it does not increase WIC funding adequately to fully fund the program, breaking with a long-standing bipartisan commitment that no eligible applicant is turned away. A lack of increased funding will result in 700,000 to 800,000 eligible people being put on waiting lists.¹

For more than 25 years, Congress has provided enough money so no eligible pregnant or postpartum parent and no infant or toddler would be turned away.

We cannot allow hundreds of thousands of mothers, infants, and children to go hungry. Time is of the essence and the Senate needs to hear from you about the importance of increased funding for WIC. Send a direct message to your senators, urging them to increase funding now.

Two years ago, nearly 10% of people with children reported sometimes/often not having enough to eat in the previous week. By Summer 2023, that number had risen to 15%, disproportionately impacting Black and brown families.²

Early access to healthy and nutritious food is critical for both fetal and child development. Access to WIC is associated with healthier birth rates, lower risk of infant death, and improved child cognitive function and overall health. Postpartum mothers, infants, and children shouldn’t have to go hungry in the richest country in the world.

As Congress moves its funding bills forward, we need them to increase funding for WIC and ensure that infants, toddlers, and postpartum moms are not turned away from the nutrition assistance they badly need.

Click here to send a direct message to your U.S. senators urging them to increase WIC funding.

Thank you for all you do to help children and their families,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ Hundreds of Thousands of Young Children and Postpartum Adults Would Be Turned Away from WIC under House and Senate Funding Levels
² U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Data Tables, calculations by Coalition on Human Needs (see slide 21, here)