Analysis of WIC Funding in the
President's FY2005 Budget

Program Description:

The Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was established by Congress as a pilot program in 1972 and authorized as a national program in 1974. WIC is a cost effective preventive nutrition program that provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, and access to health care to low-income pregnant women, new mothers, and infants and children at nutritional risk. WIC is a federally funded discretionary program.

Impact of the President's Proposal:

The President's budget requests $4.868 billion for WIC in fiscal year 2005. This is described as an increase of $198 million in budget authority and $86 million in program funds above fiscal year 2004 levels. The budget estimates that the proposed fiscal year 2005 funding level of $4.8 billion will allow WIC to serve a monthly average of 7.86 million participants. The $125 million contingency fund remains available and the funding level for fiscal year 2005 assumes that it is not used in fiscal year 2004.

WIC receives an increase in special project funds in the President's budget: $5 million for childhood obesity prevention projects ($1 million increase); $20 million to support peer counseling breastfeeding promotion initiatives ($5 million increase); $20 million to improve management information systems ($5 million decrease); and $7 million for studies to evaluate the effectiveness of WIC.

WIC participation has increased each year since fiscal year 2001, with annual average monthly participation for fiscal year 2003 reaching an all time high of 7.63 million participants. Continued growth is expected in fiscal year 2004. The budget projects an average monthly WIC caseload of approximately 7.8 million participants for fiscal year 2004. Participation data for the first quarter of fiscal year 2004 shows that the program has already grown to a monthly average of 7.75 million participants.

WIC, a large discretionary program, is vulnerable to even relatively small changes in the factors used to project cost and caseload. For example, if the President's optimistic projections about the economy and employment aren't realized, then the number of families turning to WIC could rise above the projected 7.86 million caseload. In addition, costs could rise above estimates if inflation changes or the increasing volatility in WIC infant formula rebates continue to reduce rebate funds available to support caseload. Within certain margins the contingency funds are designed to cushion the effects of these changes and enable WIC to maintain the caseload.

The President's publicly available budget books fail to provide crucial details in a number of areas. These details can only be found in OMB special budget documents. These documents include the five year spending plan (fiscal years 2006-2009) for discretionary programs which surprisingly decreases WIC and other discretionary program funding after fiscal year 2005. See analysis of the full budget for more information on discretionary funding cuts and deficit reduction plans.

Click here to get back to FRAC's main FY2005 Budget Analysis website.

For the full FY 2005 budget report, click here.

For a White House summary of the Agriculture budget, click here.

Detailed budget estimates for the Dept. of Agriculture, click here.

For the USDA budget summary, click here.

For the USDA February 2nd press release, click here.