David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, one of the measures of a strong and prosperous nation is its ability and willingness to take care of its…”

“Mr. Chairman, one of the measures of a strong and prosperous nation is its ability and willingness to take care of its neediest communities. I believe, we as a country, have an obligation to address the problems of our most vulnerable citizens. We have a whole wealth of new research indicating importance of proper care for children, particularly at-risk children during their first few years of life. The very least we can do for these young children is to make sure that they have access to proper nutrition during these formative years. WIC has been proven to be one of our most successful programs at reducing low birth weight, infant mortality, and child anemia. It is one of the most effective social programs that we have. Why, then, would we fund WIC coming out of the committee $30 million short of what we need to simply maintain the current caseload in 1998? This subtraction of the $30 million will have a direct impact on children's health in this country. I think that the cost could be exacerbated, in fact, if the cost of food is higher in fiscal year 1998. I think we need to look carefully at funding this program at levels that we have funded it in the past.”