The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) $25.1 billion Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budget request is $2.2 billion more, or 8.7 percent higher than its recently adopted FY24 spending plan and requests $7.7 billion for its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
“That’s $700 million above the recently-enacted FY24 level, which was already $1 billion over FY23,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee’s Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Subcommittee during a three-hour March 21 budget hearing.
It’s curious, Mr. Harris said, that USDA is requesting a $1.7 billion WIC increase when its “own data shows participation has been declining” for two years, especially since June 2023. Also curious, he said, is the White House claiming “just last week, ‘Inflation is down by two-thirds from its peak and costs have fallen for everyday purchases from a gallon of gas to a gallon of milk.’”…
