Thousands of Minnesota women, infants could lose access to WIC due to stagnant funding

— Trista Martinson still tears up about the help she received from a federal program as a young mother serving in the military.

She had enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which helps low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children buy healthy foods as well as receive breastfeeding and nutrition education. But some new mothers, babies and infants may lose that support this year if Congress doesn't fully fund WIC for the first time in 25 years.

"There shouldn't be any shadow of doubt as to why WIC needs to be funded," said Martinson, who chairs the Ramsey County Board. "If it wasn't for WIC, my children would've suffered."

On Thursday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a WIC clinic in St. Paul to urge Congress to fully fund the program, which has received bipartisan support for more than two decades. Afterward, he visited St. Charles in southern Minnesota to highlight renewable energy projects.

WIC funding is in place until March 1. After that, proposed funding levels won't keep pace with increasing participation and will leave a $1 billion shortfall for the program funded by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

"Congress needs to understand and appreciate the importance of fully and adequately funding WIC," Vilsack said, adding that states will have to cut programs. "That's just an untenable circumstance."

If that happens, an estimated 32,000 women, babies and infants in Minnesota may lose access as the state implements waiting lists for the first time in nearly three decades.

The Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that about 2 million women and children nationwide would not be able to receive WIC benefits by September, and Black and Hispanic families would be disproportionately affected. State officials then would have to decide how to handle the funding shortage, whether that would mean starting waiting lists, cutting hours or ending benefits.

About 106,000 women, babies and infants receive WIC benefits in Minnesota, a 7% increase from 2022. In Wisconsin, 91,000 women and children participate in the program, and nearly 60,000 Iowans rely on it.

With a record number of Minnesotans seeking help from food shelves, it's more important than ever that women, babies and infants have access to assistance programs like WIC, Minnesota Health Commissioner Brooke Cunningham said.

More Minnesotans received food stamps in 2023 than in any year since 2016, with an average of 447,000 residents enrolled each month in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But unlike the food stamp program, which the federal government deems mandatory and isn't facing cuts, WIC is categorized as "discretionary," leading to the funding threat now, Vilsack said.

"Every single year WIC has to compete with" other programs for federal money, he said. "It really shouldn't be a competition here."

WIC recipients qualify based on their income and must be deemed nutritionally at-risk. Currently, household income for a Minnesota family of four receiving WIC is capped at $55,500 a year. Unlike food stamps, WIC is temporary and for women when they are pregnant or nursing, or have a child under the age of 5.

Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, praised Minnesota for having one of the top WIC participation rates in the country. Nationally, about 51% of eligible women and children are enrolled, compared with 61% in Minnesota.

"There is tremendous work being done here," he said.

He lauded Minnesota for being among the few states to approve free school meals and one of 35 that signed up for the new summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program, a program that provides families with extra grocery benefits. About a dozen Republican governors in other states have nixed signing up for the program.

Vilsack said the programs all help ensure that kids eat healthier, which reduces health care costs long-term.

"Kids up here get a better deal than in many, many other states," he said of Minnesotans.

When Xee Her participated in WIC, she saw so many benefits of the breastfeeding education that she got a job with Ramsey County, advising pregnant women and new moms. She's training to become the first Hmong WIC lactation consultant in the state and second in the country, she said.

"The WIC program is not just about the food package," she said. "WIC is about teaching and educating women on how to eat healthy during a critical stage of their life."

Bao Yang, a St. Paul mother of five, added that her family is eating healthier because of WIC. "There's this saying, it takes a village to raise a child," she said. "Well, WIC is raising families."

Touting energy projects

In southern Minnesota later Thursday, Vilsack highlighted Minnesota's outsized role in federally funded rural renewable energy projects over the past few years. The state has gotten $54 million for almost 500 renewable projects since 2021, including 87 projects already funded this year.

Four Daughters Vineyard and Winery in Spring Valley recently received a $167,000 grant to install a solar array at their burgeoning complex, which includes various wine and bourbon distilleries, a full-sized restaurant and an event center. Federal tax credits will also help defray the cost of installing the array, which will go up this spring. Once finished, it should power more than half the winery's annual energy needs — the equivalent of about 26 homes' worth of energy.

"It's just amazing to me that all this can be powered by the sun," Four Daughters owner Justin Osborne said, noting his complex uses at least 15 air conditioning units and keeps at least 55,000 gallons of liquid cooled over the year.

Vilsack said farmers who use grants to build solar arrays or windmills to power their operations can benefit from selling excess energy back to utility companies, a boon to help farmsteads keep afloat and stem the ongoing loss of farms and agricultural acres.

Gov. Tim Walz appeared with Vilsack at the locally-owned Miller's Market grocery story in St. Charles to praise Minnesota's efforts to become energy independent.

"I've said this for years: It makes no sense that we send billions of dollars overseas to get our energy to countries that hate us," Walz said. "They'll hate us for free. We can make sure the money is here, invested in our communities."