Gus Bilirakis: “I rise today to support our Nation's future by calling for full funding for the WIC nutrition program. All too often the…”

“I rise today to support our Nation's future by calling for full funding for the WIC nutrition program. All too often the debate in this great House of democracy focuses on estimates, projections, baselines, adjustments, or some other technical term that we hear every day. We are asked to ponder piles of paper filled with facts and figures and then make a judgment about how those numbers or how changing those numbers will affect the everyday lives of millions of Americans. Today I ask that instead we take a moment and focus on the foundation of our Nation, indeed, its future, our children. I think it is more important to focus on the valuable benefits and help services WIC provides to its participants rather than haggling over census numbers and terms like full participation. When discussing the WIC Program, we must remind ourselves that it has a 22-year track record of providing valuable and, in fact, critical services to some of our Nation's most vulnerable citizens. The WIC Program provides specific nutritious foods to at-risk, income-eligible, pregnant, postpartum and breast feeding women, infants and children up to five years of age. WIC gives women and young children the means to obtain highly nutritious food like iron-fortified infant formula, calcium rich milk, eggs, juice, cereal and other staple foods necessary for healthy development.”