Virginia Foxx: “My amendment today is an effort to save taxpayers' hard-earned money by ending funding for an unnecessary program that…”

“My amendment today is an effort to save taxpayers' hard-earned money by ending funding for an unnecessary program that spends money coming to the Federal Government from our hardworking taxpayers. Mr. Chairman, I want to say that I very much believe in breast- feeding. We wouldn't have a human race here today if it weren't for the fact that breast-feeding has been in existence since the beginning of time; however, I am opposed to the Federal Government funding breast- feeding programs. Under the special supplemental program for women, infants and children, or the WIC program, Congress directed the United States Department of Agriculture to create a national program for the promotion of breast-feeding. In fiscal 2010, the Federal Government spent $85 million to educate women on how to breast-feed. We are facing a national debt of over $14 trillion. Spending taxpayer money to promote breast-feeding is simply not the proper role of the Federal Government and serves to illustrate just one reason--government mission creep--that we are so deeply in debt. In the last 10 years, administrative costs for the WIC program have grown by 72 percent while enrollment has increased by only 26 percent. It is difficult to understand how this program's bureaucracy has grown three times as fast as its enrollment.…”