[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1145
    SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST FOR THE WIC PROGRAM

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, they say a word to the wise is sufficient. 
Why, then, do we not get the message here in Congress when we are told 
over and over again the importance of the care that we give to our 
children in their earliest moments of life? It is hard to believe, with 
all the new information we have, why the Committee on Appropriations 
voted last week to reduce the President's supplemental request for the 
WIC Program, the program for women, infants, and children, by 50 
percent, cutting $38 million from the budget.
  That money is really not nearly enough anyway for WIC to serve those 
who are currently eligible. Even at this $38 million supplemental 
funding level, more than 180,000 women, infants, and children who 
presently survive because of WIC will lose this life-sustaining 
program. Some States, including my own State of California, are already 
moving to remove people from the WIC Program. The program pays for 
itself. Indeed, it is an investment. The GAO has reported that each 
dollar spent on WIC saves us $3.50 in expenditures for Medicaid and SSI 
for disabled children and other programs.
  As we prepare for Mothers Day, as families across the country set the 
table to honor our mothers, let us have a place at the table for the 
women, infants, and children of America who are poor. Support the 
President's supplemental request.

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