House Votes 213-210 to Cut Food Aid for Pregnant Women, Babies as Grocery Prices Rise

The House has passed a Republican spending bill that slashes £156m ($200m) in food vouchers for pregnant women and young children, at a time when grocery prices are already stretching low-income families to breaking point.

On 4 June 2026, the House voted 213-210 to pass the fiscal year 2027 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, a measure that, among other provisions, cuts the cash value benefit (CVB) that WIC participants use to buy fresh fruits and vegetables by 10 per cent.

The bill funds the entire Agriculture Department and the FDA at a total of £20.4bn ($26.3bn) in discretionary funding, roughly four per cent below fiscal year 2026 enacted levels. But the fight over WIC has drawn the sharpest attention from advocates and Democrats, given the timing: US food prices remain elevated, and the federal government's own 2027 budget projection estimates 7.2 million WIC participants will need support next year.

A 10 Per Cent Cut to Fruit and Vegetable Vouchers

The CVB is the portion of WIC's science-based food package that allows families to buy fresh, frozen, or canned produce at participating retailers. In fiscal year 2026, children receive $26 per month for fruits and vegetables, pregnant and postpartum participants receive $48, and fully breastfeeding participants receive $52, according to a December 2025 policy memorandum from the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service.

The House bill reduces that benefit by 10 per cent, a change the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) estimates would strip more than £110m ($141m) from the grocery budgets of nearly 5.4 million toddlers, preschoolers, and pregnant and postpartum WIC participants. That figure is drawn from state-by-state modelling CBPP published following the House Appropriations Committee's April vote advancing the bill 35-25.

The cut mirrors a priority laid out in President Donald Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request, which sought far deeper reductions: dropping the breastfeeding participant benefit from $52 to $13 per month, and the children's benefit from $26 to $10 per month, reductions of between 62 and 75 per cent. The House bill does not go that far, but advocacy groups warn it opens the door to steeper cuts in future cycles.

This marks the second consecutive year that House Republican appropriators have targeted the CVB, having attempted similar reductions in fiscal year 2026 before the Senate pushed back and secured full funding.

WIC Funding Level Risks Turning Away Eligible Families

Beyond the CVB reduction, the bill funds WIC overall at £6.2bn ($8bn), a £156m ($200m) reduction from the £6.3bn ($8.2bn) enacted for fiscal year 2026. The National WIC Association has warned that the lower funding level may fall short of projected need, particularly if food costs continue rising or participation grows. The CBPP projects the shortfall could force states to enforce waitlists for the first time in nearly 30 years.

House Republicans have argued the cut is justified by lower-than-expected enrolment in 2026. The Democratic minority on the Appropriations Committee disputed that framing in a statement released the same day, noting that WIC participation from October 2025 through February 2026 was only 1.2 per cent below the same period in 2025, a gap they attribute largely to the confusion caused by the federal government shutdown.

'Since this is a 2027 bill, funding should be based on' the administration's own estimate of 7.2 million participants, the committee's Democratic staff wrote, not participation figures from three months ago.

The bill also fails to make permanent the virtual service options, including phone and video appointments for WIC certification, that have allowed families in rural areas and those with demanding work schedules to access the programme without travelling to a clinic. Those waivers are set to expire as early as 30 September 2026.

The National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers warned that allowing them to lapse would force families to attend in-person appointments up to four times per year, a barrier for working parents and those in rural communities with limited transport.

Democrats and Advocates Condemn the Timing

Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said in her floor remarks that the bill compounds an existing cost-of-living crisis rather than addressing it. 'The cost of living crisis has sent prices for healthcare, groceries, gasoline, and utility bills skyrocketing. But instead of doing anything to provide relief to the American people, Republicans' agriculture funding bill makes the problem even worse,' she said.

Agriculture Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford Bishop (D-GA-02) raised additional concerns about the bill's cuts to rural infrastructure, including water and waste grants and the Rural Energy for America Programme, which the bill cuts in half. 'Just as our agricultural producers are getting hit with increased fuel and input costs from an unauthorised war in Iran and chaotic tariffs, farmers across the country are showing up to closed or understaffed USDA offices and this bill does nothing to fix it,' Bishop said in his prepared remarks.

Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), said in a statement: 'There is no doubt that this appropriations bill would only deepen America's hunger crisis. Families are already struggling in the face of rising grocery prices and would be forced to stretch tight budgets even further.'

The Senate has yet to schedule a floor vote, and the outcome of a conference negotiation could again determine how much produce ends up in the prams and lunchboxes of America's youngest and poorest families.