It is said that 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 of the importance of the care that we give to our children in their earliest moments of life? It's hard to believe that with all the new information that we have, the majority of the Appropriations Committee decided two weeks ago to reduce the President's supplemental request for the WIC program, the program for Women, Infants and Children, by 50 percent, cutting $38 million dollars from the budget.
That money is really not enough, anyway, to serve those who are currently eligible. Even at this $38 million supplemental funding level, more than 180 thousand 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 removing people from the WIC program.
The program pays for itself. Indeed, it is an investment. The GAO has reported that each dollar spent in the prenatal component of WIC saved $3.50 in expenditures for Medicaid and SSI for disabled children and other programs. WIC reduces cases of anemia, infant mortality, low birth weight and premature births.
As we prepare for Mother's Day, and families across the country set the table to honor our mothers, let's have a place at the table for the women, infants, and children of America who are poor.
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