National WIC Association

WEEKLY WIC POLICY UPDATE

October 17, 2016

Congressional Schedule: Members of Congress are currently on recess until after the November 8th election.

Appropriations Update: Congress’s biggest task when they return the week of November 14th will be to negotiate 11 appropriations measures to fund government agencies and programs, including WIC, for the remainder of FY 2017. Instead of grouping all of the appropriations measures together into one “omnibus” bill, it is expected that Republican leaders will opt for two or more so-called "minibuses." No decisions have been made on how many "minibus" spending bills will be used to set funding for FY 2017.

Child Nutrition Reauthorization Update: The Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), is hopeful that its bipartisan Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) bill, S. 3136 will advance in the weeks following the November 8th election. However, there is no guarantee that progress will be made on CNR before the end of the 2016 calendar year. We will keep you posted on any updates.