It is no small irony that just as the Bush administration has proposed a sound plan to update an acclaimed nutritional program for poor women and children, it is also pitching a budget that would significantly cut it.
We’re talking about the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, which since 1974 has been instrumental in getting some of the nations’ most vulnerable kids off to a good nutritional start.
The changes to the program, the first significant revamping in nearly three decades, will provide fruits, vegetables and whole grains to nutritionally at-risk pregnant women, postpartum women and their children.
While the changes are a step forward, overall funding for this effective program has become a bone of contention in federal budget negotiations that will be taking place over the next few days.
According to an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, the number of low-income women and children served by the program will have to be cut by more than 500,000 if President Bush’s budget proposals are adopted.
The analysis shows that 6,000 Colorado recipients would be cut from the program if it were funded at the level the president has proposed.
WIC has had bipartisan support and has been lauded as a cost-effective program in improving health and nutrition outcomes, reducing the incidence of low-birthweight babies and reducing childhood anemia.
In 2007, the program served 8.2 million poor people nationally, with more than 91,000 of them in Colorado. Currently, the program is averaging 95,000 participants in the state.
Patricia Daniluk, Colorado Department of Public Health’s WIC director, said the program isn’t the same as other food assistance programs like food stamps or the school lunch program.
Along with the right foods, low-income pregnant women are given counseling about how to have a healthy baby, nutritional education and health referrals. Daniluk said WIC sharply reduces the number of low-birthweight babies that otherwise would end up in neonatal intensive care.
As it stands, Colorado has had a higher than average rate of low-birthweight babies. Among the reasons are inadequate maternal weight gain and smoking during pregnancy.
Cut back WIC and the number of low-birthweight babies is likely to rise. And it doesn’t stop there. These babies are more likely to have learning disabilities and other problems when they get older.
As congressional budget negotiators work over the next few days to put together a federal spending plan, they must find a way to overcome the intransigent Republicans in the Senate who have positioned themselves to block everything that conflicts with the president’s beliefs.
WIC has a proven track record of providing effective assistance to a vulnerable population. It’s an important piece of the country’s social safety net that needs to remain intact.
