To the editor:
The Trump administration now wants to cut WIC’s fruit and vegetable benefits by up to 75%. For a breastfeeding mother, this means that her monthly produce benefit drops from $52 to $13. For a child, the benefit decreases from $26 to $10. These figures are not insignificant by any means. It is plain and simple that some meals will not get made anymore.
WIC works. Since the science-based increase to produce benefits took effect, young children are eating more fruits and vegetables every day. Parents report being able to afford healthier food. That progress would be wiped out overnight.
This is not even a new issue. Congress already rejected these same cuts last year. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
The administration says it wants to “Make America Healthy Again.” Stripping the produce benefits from nursing mothers and toddlers does the exact opposite. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the cut would strip roughly $1.4 billion in fruit and vegetable benefits from approximately 5.4 million parents and young children.
Congress has a 30-year bipartisan tradition of fully funding WIC. I am calling on our members of Congress to honor that tradition and reject these cuts entirely.
America deserves much better.
RESULTS Fellow and RESULTS Massachusetts Advocate
Brookline
