End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, this week, as part of my End Hunger Now series, I want to focus on one of the most important and successful Federal antihunger and nutrition programs, the WIC program. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC is a fantastic program that is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It truly is an amazing program, one that has been a tremendous success for 40 years.

WIC is a short-term intervention program designed to influence nutrition and health behaviors in a targeted high-risk population. What does that mean? Well, Mr. Speaker, it means that it provides nutritious food and nutrition education, among other services, to pregnant women, infants, and young children.

Specifically, WIC provides quality nutrition education and services, breast-feeding promotion and education, a monthly food prescription, and access to maternal, prenatal, and pediatric health care services.

Not only has WIC been around for 40 years, it has served millions of women and children over that time. For example, more than 10,000 clinics served 8.7 million women and children each month in 2013. That figure includes 853,000 pregnant women, 595,000 breast-feeding women, 598,000 postpartum, 2 million infants, and 4.6 million children. Those are monthly figures, Mr. Speaker.

Let's be clear: this is an important antipoverty program. It helps poor pregnant women, postpartum mothers, and their children receive both nutritious food and nutrition education. That's right, this program serves poor people--and does so successfully.

To qualify for WIC, participants' income level must be at or below 185 percent of the poverty level or they must be on Medicaid. That is about $36,000 a year for a family of three. We are not talking about wealthy people here, Mr. Speaker. In fact, nearly three-fourths of all WIC participants live in families with incomes below the Federal poverty level. That means most families of three are making less than $36,000. In fact, according to the latest data available, the average income of a participant was $16,842 a year.

The services WIC provides are critically important, and they are based on sound science. For example, we know how important it is for women to breast-feed their children. Breast milk contains important nutrients infants need to grow and to develop. We know that breast-fed infants tend to be healthier because they receive antibodies from the breast milk, antibodies that protect these young kids against infection. Did you know that breast-feeding has also been proven to save money? That's right. If 90 percent of U.S. mothers exclusively breast-fed their infants for 6 months, the U.S. would save $13 billion annually in medical expenses and prevent 900 deaths a year.

Another important part of WIC that is based on science is the food package that is made available to each client. They are designed specifically for each person, whether you are a pregnant mother, nursing mother, or a child. The foods available are approved by the scientists and the researchers at the Institute of Medicine. That's right, not Members of Congress or non-science-based administrators in a Federal agency that approve or deny certain foods from the WIC package. We know that proper nutrition can make people healthier, reduce instances of illness and disease, and prevent or reduce hospital visits and stays. I guess my mother was right when she said, An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

That is why it is so maddening and so disappointing when special interests try to change the WIC food package just so they can see a little bit more money for their product. Proper nutrition can save money--something I think should be popular in this Congress--and ignoring science because special interests want to make a quick buck is just wrong.

That is why I am so proud of this program. A few years ago, there was an attempt in the House of Representatives to underfund WIC--to deny these important services to poor women and their children. The backlash was fierce. That funding was quickly restored, and we haven't seen an attempt to cut WIC since. I only wish that were true for other Federal antihunger programs.

You see, Mr. Speaker, this program is what is best about America. Ironically, it was a program that was born in the Nixon administration. In fact, it came from the first and only White House conference on hunger, something I wish this President, President Obama, would convene before his term is over.

For 40 years WIC has ensured that poor women and their children have access to nutritious food and nutrition education. It is just that simple. These women and children have a lifeline to making their lives healthier and better. It is safe to say that the millions of people served by WIC would be worse if it weren't for this program.

I am proud of this program. I am proud of the people who work at WIC clinics, and the administrators, and those who administer the program in every State. I am proud of the people who advocate and fight for this program. I look forward to the day when we don't need WIC because we have eradicated poverty once and for all. Until that day comes, I am proud that we have WIC to help make the lives of the women and children they serve just a little bit better.

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