Senator Murray: “As I negotiate this year’s final spending bills, I will move mountains to make sure this lifeline is fully funded and our country’s babies are cared for.”
ICYMI: New York Times: Food Assistance for Mothers and Children Faces Funding Shortfall
131,139 mothers, children and infants participate in WIC in Washington state
***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL of today’s event HERE***
****AUDIO of roundtable discussion***
Seattle, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, hosted a roundtable with nutrition advocates, mothers, and local officials to hear more about WIC implementation in Seattle and the importance of fully funding WIC. Murray is leading the charge in Congress to protect WIC funding, and as Senate Appropriations Chair, is also leading the negotiations to complete our Fiscal Year 2024 spending bills. Late last year, USDA revised its initial estimates of funding needed for the WIC program upward; USDA now projects needing an additional $1 billion above the Fiscal Year 2023 spending level due to rising food prices and increased WIC participation. Historically, no one who qualifies for WIC is turned away—but that could change if WIC programs are not funded to meet projected needs. During the roundtable, Murray reiterated her strong commitment to fully funding WIC even under the extremely difficult funding constraints imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act and supporting mothers and children across Washington state and the entire country.
Murray hosted the roundtable at North Helpline foodbank and was joined by Kelly Brown, Executive Director at North Helpline; Monique Anair, a mom who’s relied on WIC before; Paul Throne, Director of the Office of Nutrition Services at Washington State Department of Health; Lannesse Baker, Director of Research and Evaluation at the Urban Indian Health Institute; and Chad Davis-Montgomery, Regional Director of the Supplemental Nutrition Division within the Western Region of the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“WIC keeps millions of moms and babies fed in America—when I became Senate Appropriations Chair I made a commitment to make sure the federal government puts kids and families first, so even under really tough fiscal constraints, that’s exactly what I’m fighting to do,” said Senator Murray. “Today’s roundtable was a reminder of just how important WIC is to keeping babies and their mothers healthy. As I continue to negotiate this year’s final spending bills, I will move mountains to make sure this lifeline is fully funded and our country’s babies are cared for.”
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—better known as the WIC program—serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. infants participate in WIC, including 131,139 mothers, children, and infants in Washington state.
As Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray is pushing to fully fund WIC—the draft Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill she wrote for Fiscal Year 2024, which passed the Senate in a bipartisan 82-15 vote in November, included the full amount the administration had requested for WIC at the time, as well as funding for other vital nutrition assistance programs that help families get the nutrition they need. Fiscal Year 2024 funding bills are still being negotiated between the Senate and House.
“WIC has always been here for the families that need us. We need to be sure it continues to always be here,” said Paul Throne, Director of the Office of Nutrition Services at the Washington State Department of Health. “The funding we receive for WIC in Washington goes less far every year, and someday we may be in the unthinkable position of asking people to wait until we have room in our program to serve them. WIC works at the start of a child’s life, when we make the greatest difference. Any delay – like making someone wait for room in the program – means we will miss that chance to make a difference for life. And we can’t get that time back.”
“Every dollar invested in WIC leads to health care cost savings,” said Chad Davis-Montgomery, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Regional Director of the Supplemental Nutrition Division. “A study published earlier this month in the Journal of Pediatrics estimated that improvements to the WIC Food Packages from 2009 to 2019 prevented nearly 63,000 cases of childhood obesity among children from households with low incomes and saved $0.27 in health care costs per dollar invested.”
“Throughout recent history, there has been a systematic attempt to destroy Native family structures that were always the foundation of tribal communities,” said Lannesse Baker (Anishinaabe/Turtle Mountain) Research and Evaluation Director for Seattle Indian Health Board. “It’s because of programs like WIC that Seattle Indian Health Board has been able to provide essential services that begin to bring traditional ways of parenting back to our community. A new family is one of the most critical stages of anyone’s life, which is why we need Congress to increase funding toward WIC, not cut it.”
“We know that keeping our community support systems like WIC available for everyone is essential for the well-being of families. From food banks like North Helpline, to national programs that keep household essentials available for millions of our neighbors, we all have a part to play in keeping food on the table and a roof overhead for everyone,” said Kelly Brown, Executive Director of North Helpline.
Additional Background on Senator Murray’s work on nutrition
Senator Murray has been a longtime leader in Congress in the fight to end hunger in America. Senator Murray helped ensure COVID relief packages like Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the American Rescue Plan made critical investments in expanded nutrition benefits and greater flexibility. During every Farm Bill reauthorization, Senator Murray has always fought to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the strongest possible levels—and has worked to ensure USDA updates the Thrifty Food Plan account for current food prices, food composition data, consumption patterns, and modern dietary guidance.
Earlier this month, Senator Murray announced that Washington state will participate in a new, permanent summer grocery benefits program for children that she got passed into law, known as the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT). The program will benefit an estimated 507,000 children in Washington state with nearly $61 million in new summer EBT benefits. The program is based off Murray’s longstanding Stop Child Summer Hunger Act that she introduced every Congress since 2014; in December 2022, Senator Murray got a version of her permanent Summer EBT legislation passed into law.
Last July, Senator Murray introduced new legislation that would expand nutrition assistance to Tribal families by allowing individuals who are eligible for both SNAP and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) to use both programs in the same month. The Tribal Access to Nutrition Assistance Act would increase food security among Tribal communities—who suffer from much higher rates of food insecurity than the general public—and would eliminate the administrative burden that comes with forcing individuals who qualify by both SNAP and FDPIR to pick between programs each month.
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