The Party of “Family Values” Seeks to Cut WIC

And Republicans still cannot fathom why birthrates are on the decline…

By: Austin Abbring

June 7, 2026

A budget bill that would reduce WIC by $200 million for the next fiscal year has passed the House 213-210, with four Democrats joining Republicans in the vote. This will still have to be heard in the Senate, where I would be surprised if it carries through. I have been surprised before by this administration, as I never thought the proposed Medicaid and SNAP cuts would pass in the ugly reconciliation bill last July, but here we are. Trump and Republicans attempted to cut WIC last year as well, but the effort was blocked in Congress. 

WIC is a supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children that aims to reduce infant mortality and developmental delays and to ensure that women and children receive adequate calories, particularly healthy ones, from pregnancy through age 5. WIC provides an array of vital programs to mothers, children, and families - especially low-income families. There is financial assistance in the form of subsidized formula, fruits and vegetables, monthly stipends, breastfeeding education and support, and science-based food packages for pregnant and postpartum women and children, which reduce nutritional deficiencies. Additionally, WIC monitors young children’s health and immunizations through periodic checkups, which help assess the program's functionality for each family. Beneficiary families of WIC are also more likely to have regular healthcare for their children. 

Should the proposed budget get through the Senate, the cuts to WIC would be as follows:

Roughly 5.4 million beneficiaries would face cuts of over 60 percent, depending on the category.

1) This would take $16 monthly from toddlers and preschoolers down to $10 monthly for fruits and vegetables

2) Would take $35 monthly from pregnant and postpartum participants down to $13 monthly

3) Would take $39 monthly from participants who are breastfeeding all the way down to $13 monthly.

This is completely grotesque. Now I knew Donald Trump’s campaign promises were all going to be complete lies, but this directly undercuts his promise to solve the affordability crisis that the vast majority of working-class American families are experiencing. Some Republicans are citing a smaller applicant pool than last year as justification for the proposed cuts, but they are counting the period during the government shutdown, which skews the actual applicant pool’s data. This year and next will almost assuredly see an increase in the applicant pool for WIC as core inflation rises, the inflationary impacts of the war in Iran intensify, and grocery and energy prices continue to rise. More mothers, children, infants, and families will be in desperate need of food assistance, and they are going to be denied if these cuts pass through the Senate. 

Not only does WIC provide direct food assistance, but the long-term health impacts should not be overstated. Low-income children can vary their diets and ensure they get the nutritional value from fruits and vegetables, which obviously makes them less likely to be malnourished or experience low iron and other deficiencies. This keeps more resources available to Medicaid, as many people who receive WIC are also covered by Medicaid for their primary health insurance. 

There is also the economic output generated by WIC, similar to the net positive from a program like SNAP. Every dollar spent on SNAP EBT generates roughly $1.80 in total economic activity. SNAP beneficiaries are spending that money at local grocery stores, which further stimulates local economies and, in turn, helps accelerate the overall economy. In the case of WIC, its economic impact is directly reflected in Medicaid costs, as it helps prevent low birth weight and improves maternal health. Every $1 spent during a pregnancy saves between $1.77 and $3 in those Medicaid costs. The WIC program requires beneficiaries to adhere to a strict spending plan for nutritious foods. As a result, we see $4 billion pumped into local food systems annually, and over $1 billion in WIC food sales directly returning to farmers' revenues. 

For a Republican Party that is so concerned with abortions, women having careers, nuclear families, and record-low birth rates, they do not examine the root causes. They completely ignore the financial burden working-class families are facing and are instead relying on tropes. Cutting school lunches for kids, cutting foster care services, cutting SNAP, cutting Medicaid, voting against universal childcare and, frankly, any childcare assistance programs, cutting Medicaid, voting against long-term maternity and paternity paid leave, and now proposing to cut WIC demonstrate to families that they are on their own. They have no assistance as they face the most stressful financial hardship they will most likely ever go through. Today, it takes two full-time careers for families to just get by, and sometimes even that is not enough. Wages are lagging way behind productivity levels. I’m certain there are many people who would love to have kids but simply cannot face the economic instability and uncertainty that come with it. If Republicans (and Democrats too, but this is primarily a Republican talking point) want to see an increase in birth rates in this country, maybe face the actual driver of lower fertility: affordability and wealth inequities. This budget proposal is most certainly not going to incentivize anyone into procreation. That is for damn sure.