WASHINGTON — The US Congress must raise spending on a food assistance programme for low-income women and children or two million could be turned away this year, Biden administration officials said on Thursday (Jan 11).
A bitterly divided Congress has for months failed to reach agreement on 2024 government spending levels and is racing to avert a partial shutdown on Jan 19.
An eventual deal should include US$1 billion (S$1.33 billion) more for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden on a call with reporters.
The programme, which had a budget of US$6 billion last year, is facing a shortfall due to rising food costs and higher participation.
The funding gap could result in as many as two million people being turned away from the programme this year, according to a December analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"The longer Congress puts off fully funding WIC, the greater the risk grows to moms, babies and children who need and are seeking nutrition and health support from the programme," Vilsack said.
WIC provides food, nutrition education and healthcare referrals to about 6.7 million low-income people each year including about half of all infants born in the US, according to the Department of Agriculture, which administers the programme.
A stopgap federal funding bill in November that narrowly averted a government shutdown extended some nutrition programs until Sept 30, but not WIC.
If Congress does not raise spending levels, states would have to put applicants on wait lists, said Paul Throne, WIC director for Washington State, on the call.
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