[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SUPPORT WIC FUNDING

  (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my objection to the 
proposed cuts in the WIC Program contained in the supplemental 
appropriations bill that is being considered by the House Committee on 
Appropriations.
  The women, infants, and children's program, known as WIC, is widely 
known as one of the most effective and cost-effective programs this 
Government operates. By providing nutritious food to pregnant women and 
infants, the WIC Program helps to ensure that babies who are born to 
low-income women get the full nutrition they need to develop and to 
grow properly. It is estimated that every dollar invested in WIC saves 
at least $3.50 in future expenditures on Medicaid and other programs.
  The administration recommended $76 million, but it has been cut to 
$38 million in the supplemental bill, which means that 180,000 children 
and pregnant women will go unserved and hungry.
  Now, we should be ashamed of ourselves for taking the food literally 
out of the mouths of babes, and I am pleased to know that my colleague, 
the gentlewoman from New Jersey [Mrs. Roukema], plans to offer an 
amendment to restore the important funding, and I shall certainly be 
supporting that. The richest country in the world cannot let its 
vulnerable citizens go without food for lack of political backbone, and 
I urge the support of my colleagues.

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