[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2012]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS OPPOSES A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL 
                WHICH THROWS WOMEN AND CHILDREN OFF WIC

  (Ms. WATERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Congressional 
Black Caucus to voice the strongest possible opposition to the 
supplemental appropriations bill voted out of committee last week. If 
passed, this bill would throw 180,000 women and their children off the 
vital special supplemental food program for women, infants, and 
children known as WIC. The WIC program is widely regarded as the single 
most successful social program the Federal Government runs, allowing 
hundreds of thousands of women and children to avoid the disaster of 
hunger.
  The administration requested $76 million just to maintain the current 
level of WIC participation for 360,000 women and children, but the 
Republicans cut this bare-bones minimum request in half, slashing the 
request to $38 million. This is a terrible and vicious attack by the 
Republican majority on nearly 200,000 caring mothers and their precious 
children.
  This supplemental appropriations bill must provide the minimum $76 
million needed to keep these families from hunger.

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