The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been undersubscribed since 2016, in many years serving only around half of the mothers and children who are eligible. Even though it reaches 6.7 million low-income people, including 40 percent of the babies born in the U.S., WIC has had wiggle room in its budget, which has helped it deal with partisan funding debates and the vicissitudes of the economy.
The program, which turned 50 last year, serves people who are pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding, or have infants or children up to age 5. Services include monthly checks or vouchers for healthy foods, as well as personalized education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to other services. These provide crucial support to those struggling with food insecurity, especially with a recent surge in food prices and deepening hunger across the country. And WIC participation has been shown to improve birth outcomes, lower infant mortality, and reduce Medicaid expenses, among other benefits.
Biden’s USDA made increasing participation in WIC a priority. To enroll more people, agency staff fought for increasing the benefit to participants, creating a food package that hewed closer to current nutrition standards and incorporating new technologies to make participation easier. Perhaps as a result, participation has been ticking up over the last two years. With a new administration intent on cost cutting, experts say they’re fearful about undoing what they see as incremental progress made.
Potential Cutbacks in WIC Funding
The program is permanently authorized but its funding is not guaranteed, as opposed to an entitlement like the National School Lunch Program, in which every eligible student is assured the benefit. Each year, Congress provides the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a specific amount of funds for state agencies to operate WIC. Increased participation could mean that participants are turned away if allocated funds run out, or in the event of a government shutdown.
If Project 2025 is any predictor of the next administration’s agenda, the program could see significant funding cuts.
After 25 years of bipartisan Congressional support for fully funding the program, WIC funding has become more political during the last few rounds of appropriations. Budget plans by both the House and Senate in 2023 included cuts to the nutrition benefit program for the following year.
That prompted the USDA to warn of a $1 billion shortfall in estimated funding need for WIC—the cost of providing six months of benefits. A shortfall of this magnitude, the USDA said, “presents states with difficult, untenable decisions about how to manage the program.”
WIC ended up getting $7 billion in 2024, $1 billion more than the 2023 enacted level, but talk of cuts worried child nutrition and anti-hunger advocates.
“The biggest concern is that are we going to run into what we did last year with a potential shortfall in funding,” said Meghan Maroney, who leads the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Federal Child Nutrition Programs initiatives. “We narrowly avoided a crisis and were facing potential waiting lists for WIC. At the eleventh hour we avoided that, but we’re scarred by the idea that this would happen again.”
If Project 2025 is any predictor of the next administration’s agenda, the program could see significant funding cuts. And if tariffs were to raise food prices, that quickly impacts what it costs to administer the program and how many people could be served.
Growth in Participation
Meanwhile, participation in the program grew by 5.3 percent between 2021 and 2023, which heightens concerns that full participation might leave some low-income mothers and young children without assistance. WIC has a triage plan in the event they can’t serve everyone.
The reason for the uptick tracks with higher inflation and food costs, but it is also a response to improvements to the program itself, said Maroney.
“WIC has seen a lot of innovation over the past several years. There were flexibilities that were tried out during the pandemic that people would like to see implemented long term: online shopping benefits, virtual online registration, and enhanced fruit and vegetable benefits all contribute to the long-term success of the program,” she said.
Bottom line, WIC is now easier to use, and the benefits are more desirable.
Mahagani Jenkins lives in Denver and has been participating in WIC with her 1-year-old son for the past year. For her, the program has been invaluable. “I was able to get formula, baby food, and fruits and vegetables for him, even though he wasn’t quite ready for that, so it was a nutrition benefit for myself as well,” she said. “It allowed me to have extra spending money to spend on more diapers and wipes. It has also allowed me to reach out for housing . . . [and] other networks. It’s been very beneficial for us.”
Source: civileats.com