This was supposed to be the year for a new Farm Bill, the five-year legislation that funds farm subsidy programs, conservation efforts and food assistance for low-income Americans.

Unsurprisingly, our dysfunctional Congress couldn’t get its act together for what is usually a bipartisan effort and chose to punt instead, extending by one year the 2018 Farm Bill that expired on Sept. 30. The extension means that agricultural landowners will get government money that otherwise would have dried up at year-end, and 40 million people will continue to receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Yet the stopgap spending bill approved earlier this month funds other government functions outside the Farm Bill only through Jan. 19. That includes the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, known as WIC, providing food, breastfeeding support and other services to more than 6 million low-income mothers, babies and kids up to age 5.

If you’ve been paying attention to the deeply divided Beltway, you can see where this is likely going: A far-right Republican House speaker will refuse to keep the government open without spending cuts, including cuts to WIC. Democrats eyeing the November election will paint him as indifferent to the inflation-fueled surge in hunger that has sent Americans flocking to food banks.

Indeed, the evidence shows that reducing food insecurity for poor families, increasing healthier births and giving needy toddlers a helping hand is money well spent. The evidence also shows, however, that WIC is almost as dysfunctional as Congress itself, which is really saying something these days.

As of 2021, the latest data available, just 51.2% of those eligible for WIC received benefits. Only the truly poor are eligible, so almost half of the acutely vulnerable people who could be receiving relief got nothing out of the program. And that low level of participation in 2021 wasn’t a function of the pandemic: Coverage rates had been sliding for years, well before COVID-19.

For political reasons, WIC is paid for by the feds but administered by individual states, with wildly different results. California, true to form, does relatively well at handing out government money, and you might think deep-blue Illinois would be good at that too.

Not in this case. Illinois is among the worst states, as measured by WIC participation rates, much closer to Arkansas than California. Why? You could chalk it up to general mismanagement, though the reality is more complicated because the program is complicated. Illinois not only lags in funds distributed to impoverished babies, but also in cutting through red tape.

In 2019, local do-gooder organizations led by EverThrive Illinois published a well-informed report with 28 recommendations for improving the state’s WIC program, getting into details of blue versus orange food coupons and how to streamline WIC sign-ups for those already in SNAP and other programs serving poor people.

Then COVID hit, and the game changed as government office closures and social isolation added new complications to qualifying those in need and delivering services. The pandemic made outreach more difficult, and staffing levels were stretched as state employees dedicated to WIC took on COVID-19-related work as well.

States that had been proactive in replacing paper vouchers with electronic benefit cards had an advantage. Illinois finally got around to scheduling a partial rollout of its eWIC card system for March 2020, in what turned out to be the teeth of the pandemic.

Lastly, increased SNAP benefits and economic impact payments during the pandemic may have temporarily reduced demand for WIC. But at the same time, indicators of food hardship grew. For most of those eligible for it, WIC still was not keeping up with the need.

Fast-forward to the grocery stores of today, where prices have skyrocketed. Food bank managers across the country say their budgets are buckling, and the Agriculture Department reports that food insecurity is rising to recession levels.

The dire situation finally has led to growing enrollment in WIC, and in the Farm Bill negotiations, the White House asked for an additional $1 billion to cover rising program costs. Congress passed the extension without extra funding.

Unlike some programs for the poor, WIC funding has attracted bipartisan support over the years, with both parties working to ensure that eligible mothers and children can receive benefits. Today’s House GOP has broken that consensus, saying harsh cuts in safety-net programs are needed to address federal debt. That raises the specter of impoverished young families being turned away from WIC next year.

Rather than pushing to take food out of babies’ mouths, playing into the hands of their political opponents, House Republicans should push for reforms that would make this program more effective. The low participation rate, and huge disparities from state to state, provide strong evidence of a program that needs to be rethought, revamped and re-energized.

House GOP, put away the hatchets, take out the scalpels, and schedule hearings to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with WIC, and how it can be fixed. Have a heart.

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