A House appropriations proposal released this spring would cut overall funding for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, by approximately $200 million, including reductions to the program’s fruit and vegetable benefit, formally known as the Cash Value Benefit (CVB). National advocates warn the proposal could force states to place eligible families on waiting lists for the first time in decades, making it harder for millions of participants nationwide to access nutritious foods.
Earlier budget proposals similarly targeted WIC’s fruit and vegetable benefit, prompting backlash from anti-hunger and nutrition organizations who argue that the reductions contradict national conversations about improving nutrition and addressing chronic disease.
For decades, WIC has quietly served as one of the country’s most effective public health programs. The federally funded nutrition program supports low-income pregnant and postpartum individuals, infants, and children under five by providing monthly food benefits, breastfeeding support, nutrition counseling, and healthcare referrals.
Nationally, WIC serves approximately 6.7 million people each month. According to the USDA, the program reaches roughly 41 percent of all infants born in the United States and distributed more than $7 billion in benefits and services in fiscal year 2024. In New York State alone, almost $503 million in federal funding supported more than 437,000 women, infants, and children last year. More than half of those participants, approximately 233,700 people, were located in New York City.
Advocates say those numbers underscore just how deeply embedded WIC has become in the state’s nutrition safety net, and why the proposed federal cuts are generating alarm among public health experts and anti-hunger organizations.
While SNAP often dominates public conversations about hunger policy, WIC serves a more targeted population during their critical developmental years. Research has consistently linked WIC participation to healthier birth outcomes, improved childhood nutrition, lower rates of infant mortality, and reduced healthcare costs later in life.
Dr. Erica Phillips, a primary care physician and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, said the proposed reductions run counter to the science on early-life nutrition. “As a primary care physician and health services researcher, I see firsthand how nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood shapes health for years to come. WIC is one of the most effective programs we have for helping families access healthy foods during these critical stages of life. At a time when policymakers are placing greater emphasis on nutrition, prevention, and ‘Making America Healthy Again,’ proposed reductions to WIC send a confusing message to families with young children. Supporting access to nutritious food is not only an investment in today’s families—it is an investment in the long-term health and development of the next generation.”
Unlike SNAP, WIC benefits are specifically structured around nutritional needs. Participants receive designated foods, including infant formula, milk, eggs, yogurt, whole grains, peanut butter, and produce, intended to support maternal and child health. The program also includes the monthly Cash Value Benefit, a fruit and vegetable allowance. According to the USDA, participants currently receive between $26 and $52 per month through the CVB, depending on eligibility category—a benefit advocates say has become increasingly important as produce prices continue rising.
In New York, where food prices remain persistently high and many households are still recovering from pandemic-era SNAP benefit reductions, as well as years of inflation, even modest cuts to WIC could have outsized consequences.
Children account for more than 55 percent of WIC participants nationwide, but the rates of participation for eligible children decline sharply as they age. According to Hunger Solutions New York, close to 69 percent of eligible infants participate in WIC compared to fewer than 45 percent of eligible children between the ages of 1 and 4—an attrition rate that advocates say often reflects administrative barriers rather than a lack of need.
The proposed cuts also come amid broader debates over the federal safety net and the future of nutrition assistance programs under the Trump administration.
“It’s concern on top of concern on top of concern,” said Carlos Arnao, Director of Healthy Communities at the New York Immigration Coalition. “The fear around accessing public benefits is compounding everything. And now we’re adding WIC cuts, which hit an incredibly vulnerable population—it’s children, it’s pregnant women, it’s nursing women—and it skews heavily toward people of color and immigrants.”
Advocates are also concerned about the future of remote WIC enrollment and recertification options that were expanded during the pandemic. Many of those virtual flexibilities are temporary, and without further congressional action, could expire later this year.
For many New Yorkers, especially parents juggling multiple jobs, childcare responsibilities, and sometimes lengthy commutes, remote appointments made participation significantly more accessible.
But even after establishing enrollment, accessing the food to which they’re entitled can be difficult for some. New York currently has approximately 2,800 authorized WIC vendors statewide, but advocates say access challenges persist in some neighborhoods, particularly for immigrant families, families without flexible work schedules, and households facing language barriers or transportation limitations.
Public health experts warn that cuts could also increase the strain on already overwhelmed charitable food networks. Food pantries across New York continue reporting elevated demand years after pandemic emergency programs expired, particularly among households with young children. And providers say that if WIC benefits shrink, more families may be forced to rely on emergency food assistance to fill the gap.
Alyson Rosenthal, Chief Operating Officer of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, an emergency food provider, said the looming cuts would land directly on organizations like hers. “Proposed cuts to WIC suggest that the health of children in need is a bargaining chip rather than a basic right. Policymakers publicly champion nutrition, yet they are threatening WIC right on the heels of major cuts to SNAP benefits. This compounding loss forces families into an impossible survival mode,” Rosenthal said. “In the emergency feeding sector, we see the immediate fallout. Food pantries cannot replace multiple, baseline federal nutrition programs. Scaling back federal nutrition benefits does not eliminate the need; it merely offloads the cost onto frontline food providers that are already at a breaking point.”
Although the proposal still faces negotiations in Congress, advocates say the debate itself highlights how precarious nutrition assistance programs have become for families already navigating high rents, expensive childcare, and rising grocery costs.
For households with infants and young children, they argue, even relatively small reductions can reverberate far beyond the checkout line.
