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Letter to the Honorable Sanford Bishop, Chariman of Agriculture Subcommittee, The Honorable Kay Granger, Ranking Member of Agriculture Subcommittee - Funding the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program

Letter

By: Raul Grijalva, Doris Matsui, Eric Swalwell, Jimmy Panetta, Adam Schiff, Raul Ruiz, Maxine Waters, Juan Vargas, John Larson, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Ted Deutch, Carolyn Bourdeaux, Marie Newman, Jan Schakowsky, Sharice Davids, Jake Auchincloss, Anthony Brown, Ilhan Omar, Alma Adams, Frank Pallone, Jr., Don Payne, Jr., Kathleen Rice, Antonio Delgado, Brian Higgins, Earl Blumenauer, Dwight Evans, Conor Lamb, Lizzie Fletcher, Colin Allred, Gerry Connolly, Rick Larsen, Marilyn Strickland, Ruben Gallego, Ami Bera, Jim Costa, Salud Carbajal, Brad Sherman, Karen Bass, Nanette Barragán, Sara Jacobs, Joe Courtney, Al Lawson, Jr., Frederica Wilson, Cindy Axne, Chuy Garcia, Bill Foster, John Yarmuth, Seth Moulton, Andy Levin, Emanuel Cleaver II, Chris Pappas, Tom Malinowski, Mikie Sherrill, Yvette Clarke, Paul Tonko, Joyce Beatty, Peter DeFazio, Madeleine Dean, David Cicilline, Al Green, Marc Veasey, Stacey Plaskett, Pramila Jayapal, Ron Kind, Terri Sewell, Mike Thompson, Barbara Lee, Anna Eshoo, Judy Chu, Jimmy Gomez, Mark Takano, Alan Lowenthal, Jason Crow, Jahana Hayes, Val Demings, Lucy McBath, Robin Kelly, Danny Davis, André Carson, Lori Trahan, Bill Keating, Debbie Dingell, Kathy Manning, Joshua Gottheimer, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Dina Titus, Carolyn Maloney, Joe Morelle, Suzanne Bonamici, Brendan Boyle, Susan Wild, Steve Cohen, Sylvia Garcia, Abigail Spanberger, Suzan DelBene, Adam Smith, Jenniffer González-Colón, John Garamendi, Mark DeSaulnier, Ro Khanna, Julia Brownley, Ted Lieu, Linda Sánchez, Lou Correa, Diana DeGette, Jim Himes, Darren Soto, Nikema Williams, Bobby Rush, Sean Casten, Frank Mrvan, Jim McGovern, Ayanna Pressley, Haley Stevens, Bennie Thompson, Annie Kuster, Albio Sires, Melanie Stansbury, Jerry Nadler, John Katko, Shontel Brown, Brian Fitzpatrick, Mary Scanlon, Jim Langevin, Joaquin Castro, Elaine Luria, Peter Welch, Kim Schrier, Gwen Moore
Date: April 26, 2022
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Women Minors and Children

Dear Chairman Bishop and Ranking Member Fortenberry:

As you work to finalize Fiscal Year 2023 funding for the Department of Agriculture, we urge you to fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to ensure that the program can serve all eligible pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children throughout the entire fiscal year. We request $6.3 billion in overall budget authority for WIC to reflect the ongoing Child Nutrition Reauthorization process, the extended postpartum eligibility, and forthcoming rulemaking on the WIC food packages. We also request that Congress extend the WIC benefit increase for fruits and vegetables which was successfully enhanced during the previous fiscal year.

WIC is the premier preventive public health nutrition program supporting low-income mothers and young children who have or are at risk for developing nutrition-related diseases and disorders. WIC benefits are not limited only to food; participants also benefit from nutrition education, breastfeeding education and support, and referrals to medical and social services.

Studies have repeatedly shown that WIC improves birth outcomes for high-risk mothers, reduces the likelihood of very low birthweight babies, infant mortality, and helps to get women into prenatal care earlier. Children enrolled in WIC are more likely to be immunized on time, consume key nutrients, and have higher cognitive development scores than their peers not participating in WIC. Study after study has shown that WIC works. Taxpayers receive a healthy return in costs of at least $2.48 avoided for every dollar of investment. These outcomes change lives and save taxpayer dollars. That is why Congress must continue to adequately fund this proven program.

Within the $6.3 billion of overall funding for WIC, we urge you to provide dedicated set-aside funding for the following purposes:

Breastfeeding

We ask that you continue the funding level of $90 million for WIC's Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program, to provide tailored peer-to-peer support. WIC peer counselors are demonstrated to improve breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity and close racial disparities in breastfeeding. Since FY 2020, the current funding level has helped State Agencies hire additional peer counselors, extend peer counselor hours, and resolve other service gaps -- especially in rural areas -- to continue WIC's essential work in promoting, supporting, and strengthening breastfeeding services.

Infrastructure

We urge you to continue funding WIC infrastructure at $14 million, which supports a variety of essential program priorities, including brick-and-mortar infrastructure repairs and improvements, special breastfeeding projects, and innovative special projects that enhance program access and participant retention.

Management Information Systems

We request that you provide $35 million set-aside funding for investment in the management information systems (MIS), which has not been funded since fiscal year 2015. MIS platforms are the primary state database used to manage participant data and issue benefits. As States complete the transition to electronic-benefit transfer (EBT) payment, state agencies would benefit from additional investment in MIS platforms in order to accommodate the new transaction system, replace aging equipment, improve data security, and manage analysis of new EBT data to better track participant behaviors of WIC utilization.

WIC's early intervention supports the healthy growth and development of America's next generation, leading to better birth and health outcomes and saving the American taxpayer costs in the long run. We believe this is one of the strongest investments that Congress can make. We appreciate your consideration of this request and again urge you to ensure that WIC is robustly funded in FY 2023.


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