[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RESTORE WIC PROGRAM FUNDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Roemer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I would just say that to start my 5 minutes 
I am delighted to see that we are on 5 minutes because that means that 
the rule for the bill that we were going to undertake has been 
defeated.
  I think one of the reasons that the rule was defeated was because we 
did not allow, through the Committee on Rules, the opportunity to offer 
a bipartisan amendment that would have restored the entire amount of 
WIC funds, Women, Infant and Children Program funds to make sure that 
the program continues to help women that are pregnant not deliver 
anemic or underweight children.
  Mr. Speaker, this is one of the best programs and one of the best 
bipartisan programs that we have in Government, yet the Committee on 
Rules had locked out and shut down and prohibited us from offering and 
discussing this bipartisan amendment with the self-executing rule.
  So I am delighted that the Committee on Rules now is back to discuss 
ways by which to improve that bill. I think it was defeated in a 
bipartisan way, with 43 Republicans joining the Democrats, because we 
do want to discuss the importance of WIC. We also want to make sure 
that that bill is not loaded up like a Christmas tree with the branches 
sagging to the floor with pork barrel ornaments.
  So there are two problems with that bill. I am hopeful that we can 
get that bill back to the floor right away because it does involve 
natural disaster relief that is very important for a number of States, 
including States in the Midwest, it involves funding for human 
disasters, which would help women and children with the restoration of 
$38 million in the WIC Program.
  Why do we need this funding for the WIC Program? There are a number 
of reasons. One is because the administration, the White House, 
recognized, with the help of some Republicans, that we were going to 
have an increased caseload, that disability payments through Social 
Security for children were frozen, and that we had increases in milk 
prices. So we needed to make sure we got this $38 million put into the 
WIC Program to ensure that 180,000 children were not cut off from WIC.
  Mr. Speaker, we were able to do that defeating the rule in a 
bipartisan way. I am hopeful that the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. 
Kaptur], the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema], the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Riggs] and whoever wants to will go to the 
Committee on Rules and make sure that we get a fair rule to discuss and 
debate this WIC Program, which is a wonderful program to help our women 
and children throughout this country, and I would be happy at this time 
to yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] who has done a 
marvelous job fighting passionately for a wonderful program such as 
WIC.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana 
for his strong support of the WIC program, making sure that there is a 
funding stream for WIC that is not smoke and mirrors, one that we can 
depend on and one that is not just invented a few hours before a bill 
comes to the floor.
  I can say that I serve as a member on two of the subcommittees of 
concern here, the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food 
and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, dealing with the WIC 
funding, and the Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies as 
well, which includes the NASA budget. We never had any kind of hearings 
with NASA on taking money from that account and placing it in the WIC 
account.
  It was very unclear to us yesterday when we went before the Committee 
on Rules. We were told, well, maybe they might make a rule in order 
where we could debate the funding issue. Then it turns out to be a 
self-executing rule, and when we asked the Committee on Rules yesterday 
when we testified, well, where is the money coming from, they said, 
well, we think it may be coming from a NASA account. I said which NASA 
account? Well, was it the wind tunnel account? They said, well, maybe 
it is section 8, maybe it is not NASA.
  It was very confusing up in the Committee on Rules, and then today we 
are presented with a self-executing rule where apparently the money is 
being taken from some NASA account.
  This was never, never talked about, as the gentleman from Georgia 
knows, in our Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and 
Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, and I can assure the 
gentleman that as a member of the Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and 
Independent Agencies, which includes the NASA budget, we never talked 
about this and had the opportunity to deal with the agency people from 
NASA.
  So I think for those of us who are fighting for the WIC Program and 
for certainty, not just after next fall, the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Riggs] said he wants to hold hearings next fall. We have people 
being taken off the rolls today around the country, including in his 
own State of California, where the Governor has written us and said he 
needs an additional $27 million just in California alone.

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