[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 65--RELATING TO CHILDREN IN POVERTY
Mr. LEAHY submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry:
S. Con. Res. 65
Whereas the special supplemental food program for women,
infants, and children (WIC) established under section 17 of
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) saves
medical costs by preventing low birth weight, reducing
anemia, and increasing immunizations;
Whereas a study conducted by the General Accounting Office
concluded that WIC reduces the incidence of very low birth
weight by 44 percent;
Whereas a 1993 study conducted by the Secretary of
Agriculture found that savings attributable to WIC, due to
the reduction of very low birth weight, ranged from
$2,300,000 in Florida to $4,500,000 in North Carolina in
reduced medical assistance costs under title XIX of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.);
Whereas a study released by the Secretary of Agriculture in
1991 demonstrated that for each dollar spent on a pregnant
woman under the WIC program, the associated savings in
medical assistance costs for illnesses beginning in the first
60 days after birth ranged from $1.92 to $4.21 for newborns
and mothers and from $2.98 to $4.75 for newborns only;
Whereas a study conducted by the General Accounting Office
found that WIC benefits provided to all eligible pregnant
women would more than pay for themselves in 1 year and would
avert more than $1,000,000,000 in health-related costs over
an 18-year period;
Whereas the WIC program reduces iron deficient anemia,
which affects 25 nearly percent of poor children in the
United States and is associated with impaired cognitive
development and increases in the risk of lead poisoning;
Whereas the WIC program reduces fetal death and infant
mortality;
Whereas the United States ranks below 20 other countries in
infant mortality rates and behind 73 other countries in
percentage of infants born at low birth weigh;
Whereas the Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty, and
Nutrition Policy found that even short-term undernutrition
jeopardizes the physical health, brain development, and
cognitive functioning of young children;
Whereas 4- and 5-year olds whose mothers participated in
the WIC program during pregnancy demonstrate higher
vocabulary test scores, and children who participated in the
WIC program after the 1st birthday of the children score
higher on memory tests;
Whereas in 1991 corporate executive officers of 5 major
corporations testified at a congressional hearing about the
need to fully fund the WIC program by 1996 and concluded that
``each pregnant woman, infant, and child who could benefit
from WIC but is left out of the program represents a
potential drain on budgetary outlays in subsequent years and
on our Nation's future economic growth, not to mention a
tragic loss in human potential'';
Whereas more than 3,000,000 women, infants, and children
are eligible but are not currently served by the WIC program;
and
Whereas 1994 is the 20th anniversary of the WIC program:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring),
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``A Child is Waiting
Resolution''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FULL FUNDING FOR WIC PROGRAM.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) any health care reform legislation passed by Congress
include guaranteed full funding for the special supplemental
food program for women, infants, and children (WIC)
established under section 17 of the Child Nutrition Act of
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) so that all eligible women, infants,
and children who apply could be served by the end of fiscal
year 1996 and full funding could be maintained through fiscal
year 2000; and
(2) at least $3,564,000,000, should be made available for
fiscal year 1995 to move toward the full funding goal
described in paragraph (1).
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. president, every fifth child in America lives in
poverty. Fifteen percent of our homeless population are children. Their
numbers are increasing faster than any other segment of the homeless
population. Better than four in 10 recipients of emergency food
assistance are children.
I am joined today by my friend and colleague, Senator Jim Jeffords,
in introducing a resolution that expresses a bipartisan effort to
reverse these trends. Vermont puts partisan differences aside when it
comes to feeding children. In a show of support for the Women, Infants
and Children [WIC] feeding program, Vermont will be the first State in
the union to mark the twentieth anniversary of this program. On Monday,
April 4, Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy will join us in Burlington to
celebrate the occasion.
WIC deserves special recognition. It feeds hungry infants and
children, prevents low birthweight, reduces anemia and increases
childhood immunizations. WIC ranks among the most successful nutrition
and health programs anywhere. It dispenses food, educates the public on
proper nutrition, health assessments and medically prescribed
supplements. It also saves the American taxpayer lots of money.
The resolution that Mr. Jeffords and I offer today guarantees that
full funding of the WIC program will be included in any health care
reform approved by Congress.
The initiative has the support of Bread for the World, which has
worked tirelessly, for two decades, on behalf of America's children.
Let me pause here to thank this great, humanitarian organization and
the participating churches and committed membership, who has worked so
hard, for so long, in support of the WIC program. They have kept the
issue of childhood poverty squarely in the forefront of our national
conscience.
President Clinton strongly supports full funding of WIC in his Health
Security Act, which Senator Jeffords courageously supports with members
on this side of the aisle.
Greater investment in WIC produces immediate savings in federal
health care spending. For every dollar spent on proper nutrition and a
healthy diet can save 3 dollars in medical costs related to
undernutrition and poor health later on. It adds a practical dimension
to our moral responsibility to support this program.
The United States ranks below 20 western countries in infant
mortality. The richest, most powerful nation on earth ranks 74th in
percentage of low birthweight infants, A WIC program capable of helping
every eligible American family will dramatically reversed this shameful
statistic.
A General Accounting Office report showed that WIC reduced the
incidence of very low birth weight by 44 percent. A study released by
the Secretary of Agriculture last year showed dollar savings in reduced
Medicaid costs ranged from $2.3 million in Florida to $4.5 million in
North Carolina.
GAO calculated that the government investment paid for itself within
a year--and averted $1 billion more in medical expenses through the age
of 18.
Savings are generated when fewer newborns need emergency, intensive
medical care. It stand to reason that healthier babies mean fewer
medical problems.
Low birthweight infants are at greater risk to developmental
handicaps, birth defects, infectious diseases, behavior problems and
other complications.
Failure to take preventative steps by providing proper nutrition
drives up the cost of health care and contributed to the crisis that is
crippling our economy.
Vermont has long recognized WIC as a prudent investment in America's
future. We are one of the few States that provides services to every
eligible applicant.
But despite WIC's 20-year record of outstand public service, there
are millions of eligible women, infants and children who receive no
benefits.
They are cut off--not because they weren't entitled--but because
there wasn't money enough in the program to meet their need.
Mr. President, a child needs our help. Health care reform provides
this Congress a historic opportunity to ensure guaranteed full funding
of the WIC program though the year 2000.
I applaud the vision of the President and his courage in including
WIC full funding in his health care package. This resolution asks that
WIC full funding be a part of whatever health care reform passed by the
Congress. It is my hope that each of my colleagues will share this
vision and join with Senator Jeffords and me as cosponsors of this
resolution.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I am pleased today to join
Senator Leahy in introducing a resolution calling on Congress to
include full funding for the Special Supplement Food Program for Women,
Infants and Children in whatever health package is enacted.
I am confident that health care reform will pass, and I commend
Senator Leahy for his leadership on this issue. No one has done more
for nutrition programs than he, and this is but one more example of his
dedication.
In this, he is following in the footsteps of another Vermonter and
chairman of the Agriculture Committee, George Aiken, who reportedly
espoused a rather simple approach to designing Federal nutrition
programs for children. It was: ``Feed them all.'' While in these days
of tight budgets we may not be able to fulfill that vision, we should
at least feed all of the women, infants and children who qualify for
the WIC program based on financial and nutritional need.
Senator Leahy has thoroughly outlined the purpose and dramatic
results of the WIC program. The only point I would add is one that came
out in testimony before the Labor Committee 2 weeks ago. Dr. Deborah
Frank came before the committee to testify on energy assistance, but
the point she made is just as important here.
Dr. Frank is a pediatrician in Boston. For 3 years, she and her
colleagues have studied children passing through the emergency room of
Boston City Hospital. They found that although the conventional
scientific wisdom is that seasonal malnutrition is a phenomenon limited
to preindustrialized societies, the conventional wisdom is wrong. In
Boston, and no doubt throughout America, when it gets cold, more money
is consumed by fuel bills, and less money is available to feed
children. As temperatures fall, children lose weight.
The children followed in this study were almost all poor and all were
between 6 and 24 months old. These infants and toddlers were at a
critical stage in their development, when brain growth should be rapid.
We don't know what will happen to each of them. But we do know that
malnourished children are at greater immediate health risk, and at
greater risk for long term effects such as failure in school and
deficits in attention and social behavior.
The impact that WIC could have on these children is enormous. And the
impact on women and newborns in the WIC program, as Senator Leahy has
noted, is even more dramatic.
If there is one theme that runs through the debate on health care, I
think it is that we devote far too little attention to preventive care
in our country. From the most conservative Republican to the most
liberal Democrat, I think you would find near universal agreement that
we need to change the design of our current system to focus more on
promoting and rewarding wellness rather than reacting to sickness.
That is why I hope we can get overwhelming support from our
colleagues on this resolution. Every one of us, regardless of our
feelings toward the larger issues of health care reform, should be able
to agree that the WIC program should be part of the health care package
that is ultimately adopted by the Congress and sent to the President.
The WIC program has been in place for 20 years now, and we know that
it works. It is the very low-cost, low-tech type of preventive
intervention that we all want to emphasize in our health care system.
And it saves money, both for the Federal Government and society as a
whole.
But most importantly, it saves lives. And if that isn't what health
care reform is all about, then we had better reexamine our purpose. WIC
may not have received the notice of the other components of heath care
reform, but it is every bit as important.
President Clinton was right to include full funding of WIC in the
health care bill he introduced. Not it is up to all of us--in Congress
and across the country--to make sure it is in the bill he signs. I know
we will have great support in our efforts, and I particularly want to
commend Bread for the World for its support of the WIC program, and for
the compassion, commitment and common sense of its many members.
A child is waiting, Mr. President. A child is waiting for the food
shelf to open tommorrow morning, for the food stamps next week to
replace those exhausted, for the delivery of surplus commodities who
knows when. A child is waiting for the sustenance and medical attention
of the WIC program. And a child is waiting for we adults, who are
entrusted by the Constitution and our own oath for her care, to finally
fulfill the promise of equality that for too many is now belied by an
empty belly.
Again, I deeply appreciate the leadership demonstrated by the
President on this issue. And I commend Senator Leahy for once again
advancing the cause of nutrition in our country. I look forward to, and
will work to secure, the overwhelming support of our
colleagues.
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