January 10, 2024 

 The Issue:  

The deal reached by the leadership will still require difficult negotiations, likely because so many conservative members of the House believe that their role is to dramatically cut government spending, no matter the impact on millions of families. The reality is that poverty has grown with the end of the pandemic – now 12.4 percent of the population, with child poverty more than doubling! 

What’s At Stake: 

On this January 10th National Day of Action for WIC, the women and children nutritional assistance program must be fully funded to meet additional demands by January 19th.  Or, women and young children will have to be turned away. Congress must approve these additional WIC funds to avoid jeopardizing the health of about 2 million very young children and pregnant or postpartum adults in long-income families and maintain WIC’s long-term success. 

In addition, the budget deal does not provide funds needed to avoid a disastrous loss of childcare capacity, potentially affecting 70,000 programs and 3.2 million children. We also hear that there is inadequate funding in the budget deal that will not meet existing rental housing subsidies. Conservatives keep demanding more cuts. Negotiations on the budget will continue and all members of Congress need to be pressured to fund these critically important programs.  

TAKE ACTION 

 Please immediately call your Representative and your two Senators and tell them: Please support additional funding for WIC, the women and child nutrition program, also funding childcare assistance to prevent the loss of 70,000 programs, funds for SNAP – food stamps. and rental housing assistance that help low-income families survive.   The budget deal that was just reached does not provide additional funding to meet those needs for our most vulnerable families. Capitol switchboard # is 202-224-3121 or send a message via the member’s website. Contact info at,  Representatives | house.gov and U.S. Senate: Senators  

National Day of Action for WIC 

Call on Wednesday, January 10th, National Day of Action for WIC, you can use Moms Rising’s call-in line for free if you would like. YOUR MESSAGE: Child poverty has doubled since the end of the pandemic. Please take action to avoid a WIC emergency by January 19th! Fully fund WIC, the women and children nutritional assistance program, to allow more eligible women/children to participate