The Wise Investment in our Children Act (WIC Act) was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate on Thursday, March 18th. It is sponsored by Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Jennifer González-Colón (R-PR), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Kim Schrier (D-WA), and Don Young (R-AK).
The WIC Act is critical legislation that will allow WIC to further improve maternal and child health outcomes in the United States by increasing the program’s accessibility to women and children. The National WIC Association (NWA) estimates that approximately 600,000 children and nearly one million women could receive extended nutrition support and provide 1.65 million families with administrative relief.
The WIC Act identifies the following three common-sense steps to strengthen access to the WIC program:
- Extend child eligibility to age six or the beginning of kindergarten to help ensure there are no nutritional gaps before all children begin school.
- Extend postpartum eligibility to two years to improve maternal health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and prevent maternal mortality.
- Extend infant certification periods to two years to streamlines services to reach more children.
These steps are necessary to improve the outcomes that are obtained through higher WIC participation and prepare families for future success and healthy development.
We need national congressional support to pass the WIC Act! Show your support by sharing and retweeting these posts on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #WICAct!
