Florida mothers and babies face new threats of hunger
One in nine Floridians, including one in seven children, go to bed hungry every night. If Congress fails to act, hunger in Florida is about to get a lot worse.
After several setbacks, Congress continues to pursue a long-term funding package for federal agencies, as some lawmakers debate cuts in areas that could deeply impact families and children. One proposal would deny more than 125,000 Florida babies, toddlers, and expectant mothers — the equivalent to the entire population of West Palm Beach — the food they need to thrive.
In Florida, more than 400,000 pregnant women, new moms, and children under age five rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC helps these low-income families buy healthy food, like fruits and vegetables, that they otherwise couldn’t afford. Florida ranks third in the nation, behind only California and Texas, in the number of families participating in WIC.
For more than 25 consecutive years, lawmakers from both parties have worked to ensure that WIC has enough money to feed all young families who qualify for help. But this bipartisan commitment will come to a crashing halt this year unless Congress changes course.
As Congress crafts spending bills for Fiscal Year 2024, the leading proposals so far fail to provide full funding for WIC’s budget. This comes at a time of skyrocketing food costs, rising food insecurity, and increased program participation levels that have increased funding needs by $1 billion. Without additional funds, WIC programs across the country will have no choice but to turn away eligible families for the first time in a generation.
These cuts would come at a particularly devastating time. Among Florida families of all races and ethnicities earning less than $50,000 a year, 25% had too little food last fall. With Florida’s inflation rate higher than the national average and rapidly rising food prices, cutting WIC aid that fills the gaps during children’s formative early years will force parents to skip meals themselves just to feed their children, ultimately condemning vulnerable babies to lifelong harm.
Denying essentials like healthy food and infant formula harms all low-income families, but WIC’s funding shortfall will hit Hispanics and members of other historically underserved communities the hardest – the very communities already experiencing far too much hunger, poverty, and diet-related disease. In Florida, more than 40% of the mothers and young children who rely on WIC are Hispanic. At the beginning of this year, nearly one in five Hispanic families with children did not have enough food to eat.
Denying 125,000 new moms, babies, and young children across the state of Florida access to WIC would be devastating, but Congress now has the opportunity to send a powerful message — that the health and wellbeing of children and families remains a fundamental priority that transcends partisan divides. They can protect families across the country from the threat of WIC cuts that could leave our neighbors in deeper hunger and poverty. And this would all come at a bargain for taxpayers and society as a whole: every $1 spent on WIC maternal care saves $2.48 in future health spending. We all benefit from a fully funded WIC program.
Our leaders face a choice: Will they stand behind mothers and young children when it matters most? There is still time to make the right choice. Congress must fully fund WIC now.