1 / 17

NWA's Legislative Agenda: WIC Priorities for Congress

Learn about the National WIC Association's legislative agenda for the new Congress, including appropriations priorities, reauthorization goals, and additional policy priorities. Discover opportunities to advance WIC's priorities and advocate for funding and policy changes.

herbertt
Download Presentation

NWA's Legislative Agenda: WIC Priorities for Congress

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A WIC Agenda for the New Congress Brian Dittmeier, Senior Public Policy Counsel, NWA Theresa Landau, Program Director, Morrisania WIC Program Samar McGregor, Senior Nutritionist, PHFE WIC March 4, 2019

  2. Session Outline How NWA’s Legislative Agenda is crafted Appropriations Priorities Reauthorization Priorities Additional Priorities Later sessions will prepare you for your Hill visits!

  3. NWA’s Legislative Committee • Christine O’Brien (IA) • Carolyn Operacz (TX) • Samar McGregor (CA) • Theresa Landau (NY) • NWA’s Legislative Committee is charged with making recommendations for an annual policy agenda • Current members: • Janet Moran (WY), Chair • Celia Nabor (AZ) • TiareSanna (OR) • Melinda Newport (Chickasaw) • Perveen Ali (CA)

  4. Opportunities to Advance WIC Priorities in the 116th Congress Appropriations: the annual process to approve federal funding for WIC Reauthorization: a long-term process to approve statutory changes to programs Adjacent Priorities: separate efforts to improve public health, nutrition, or other priorities outside of the WIC-specific context

  5. Appropriations Process: Where Are We? • FY 2019 funding was approved on February 15, 2019 • Members are actively soliciting feedback to form their priorities • Committees will likely begin work in the late spring • WIC letters circulating soon: • Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) & Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

  6. FY 2020 Appropriations Priorities

  7. Overall Funding Number • NWA requests $6.15 billion in funding for WIC, plus the contingency fund • FY 2019 funding level was slightly lower - $6.075 billion • Appropriators also included a $500 million rescission in FY 2019

  8. Contingency Fund NWA requests a total investment in the contingency fund of $750 million The current contingency fund is only $150 million A robust contingency fund will ensure continued WIC operations during another shutdown or an increase in caseload, including during a recession

  9. Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program NWA requests an increase in set-aside funding for Breastfeeding Peer Counselors, to the fully authorized amount of $90 million The peer counselor set-aside has been flat-funded at $60 million for nearly a decade

  10. Other Set-Asides NWA requests $14 million in unencumbered infrastructure funding NWA requests $25 million in set-aside funding for research and program evaluation purposes NWA is also requesting $15 million in community health set-aside funding; details will be covered later

  11. WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program is funded separately from WIC’s overall funding NWA requests $18.5 million to support the WIC FMNP

  12. Child Nutrition Reauthorization: Where Are We? • Child Nutrition Reauthorization is WIC’s authorizing law. This process is the prime opportunity to change WIC’s statute and make improvements • The last authorization was in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. • A reauthorization process in 2015-16 resulted in a bipartisan Senate bill with several positive WIC provisions • Enthusiasm to tackle CNR in the 116th Congress • NWA will develop a separate CNR agenda

  13. WIC Act Priorities • Wise Investment in our Children Act (WIC Act) includes three priorities: • Extending child eligibility to age 6 (“WIC to 6”) • Extending infant certifications to two years • Extending postpartum eligibility to two years

  14. Administrative Flexibility on EBT Costs CNR presents an opportunity to create administrative flexibility by expanding the definition of food costs to include EBT processing and transaction fees This increased flexibility will help alleviate pressures on state WIC budgets, especially in smaller states

  15. Community Health Funding Line • Congress is exploring authorizing a new set-aside to support WIC projects that enhance community health linkages • These partnerships can fund WIC efforts to strengthen referral networks, conduct outreach, and improve community practices on breastfeeding • This new funding would build on NWA’s three-year CDC project

  16. Additional Policy Priorities Immigration USDA rules on SNAP and school meals Dietary Guidelines Breastfeeding Paid Family Leave

  17. Questions?

More Related