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WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), member of the House Health Subcommittee, joined over 160 House and Senate colleagues 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. Since 1997, Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, fully funded WIC each year. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, over 19,000 Delawareans are WIC participants. 

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.

“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.” 

“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,” the lawmakers’ letter continued. 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. 

Text of the letter can be found here.

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