Media Contact:
Jordan Baker
jbaker@frac.org
980-290-7282
Statement attributable to Crystal FitzSimons, president, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2026 — The House Appropriations Committee Fiscal Year 2027 Agriculture appropriations bill would weaken critical federal nutrition programs proven to support the food security and health of tens of millions of families with low incomes.
The bill takes aim at the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides critical targeted nutritional support to 6.8 million infants, young children, and their mothers. It provides $200 million less than the $8.2 billion level enacted in fiscal year (FY) 2026, falling short of what is needed to uphold meaningful benefit levels.
The WIC cash value benefit (CVB) that helps families purchase fruits and vegetables to support better nutrition and health is also reduced in the bill — by 10 percent — following President Trump’s proposed budget priority to weaken the program. Additionally, the bill fails to ensure that WIC remains accessible to millions of participants, including many in rural areas, who are only able to participate due to the flexible services — such as phone and video appointments for certification and recertification. Without congressional action, these virtual options could expire as soon as September 30, 2026, cutting off access, especially for those in rural areas who have limited access to their local WIC clinic.
The bill’s $101.2 billion in mandatory funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is $6.2 billion below levels enacted in fiscal year 2026, a continuation of harmful policy changes under the budget reconciliation law (H.R. 1) that strips the food assistance program. This reduction threatens SNAP’s ability to fully meet the needs for an increasing number of households — including working families, children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities — struggling to put food on the table.
The bill also keeps U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) staffing levels too low to effectively administer SNAP. It fails to provide full contingency funding to ensure a complete month of SNAP benefits and operations during a funding lapse, despite the lessons learned during the 2025 government shutdown when benefits lapsed for the first time in the program’s history, delaying assistance for more than 40 million Americans with low incomes. Congress must provide $8 billion–$9 billion to prevent this from happening again. The bill also does not include $1.2 million to restore the Food Security Supplement, the gold standard of food security data, undermining transparency into the true state of hunger in America.
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 and make difficult choices such as paying for food, housing, or other basic needs.
The House Appropriations Committee must go back to the drawing board and put American families first. WIC must be fully funded, and the cuts to SNAP in the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1, must be restored.
Hungry people can’t wait.
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The Food Research & Action Center improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.