Trump Budget Would Slash WIC Fruit and Vegetable Benefits for Millions

For more than 25 years, Presidents and Congresses of both parties have adhered to a commitment to provide enough funding for the WIC program — the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — to provide full food benefits to all eligible families who apply. Yet President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget would cut WIC funding, leaving it insufficient to provide all anticipated participants with full benefits.

The budget calls for sharply reducing the fruit and vegetable component of WIC’s food benefits for new and expecting parents and young children, which we estimate would take away more than $1.3 billion in fruit and vegetable benefits from 5.2 million participants.

WIC provides nutritious foods, counseling on healthy eating, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to almost 7 million low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding individuals, infants, and children at nutritional risk. Extensive research over the last few decades shows that WIC participation contributes to healthier births and more nutritious diets, among other positive outcomes.

Cut Would Undermine Goals of Improving Children’s Health, Lowering Families’ Food Costs

The proposed cut would directly undermine the Administration’s stated goal of improving children’s health and reducing childhood chronic disease by depriving young children of essential nutrients during a critical developmental window, which could have negative long-term health consequences. Research shows that adequate fruit and vegetable consumption helps improve health and prevent chronic disease.

The proposal also runs counter to the President’s promise to lower families’ food costs. If WIC benefits are reduced, families with young children and low incomes will have to spend more on groceries to provide their children with the same amount of fruits and vegetables, at a time when grocery prices are expected to rise.

WIC provides specific foods chosen through a rigorous, science-based process — including whole grain bread, baby food, infant formula, and milk — as well as “cash value benefits” that can be used only to buy fruits and vegetables. In 2021, the cash value benefit amount was increased for all participants except infants to provide them with additional fruits and vegetables, consistent with earlier recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

In fiscal year 2025, children received $26 monthly for fruits and vegetables, pregnant and postpartum participants received $47, and breastfeeding participants received $52.

Increases to the cash value benefit are popular and have led WIC participants to purchase significantly more fruits and vegetables. But even with the increase, WIC aims to provide only half of children’s recommended fruit and vegetable intake.

Under the President’s proposal to severely reduce the cash value benefit, 5.2 million participants would face cuts of 62 percent to 75 percent compared to current levels, depending on the participant category. The proposal would:

• take away $16 monthly from toddlers and preschoolers, leaving them with only $10 monthly for fruits and vegetables;
• take away $34 monthly from pregnant and postpartum participants, leaving them with only $13 monthly; and
• take away $39 monthly from breastfeeding participants, leaving them with only $13 monthly.

The table below illustrates how many 1- to 4-year-old children and pregnant and postpartum adults in each state and territory could have their benefits slashed in 2026 under the President's budget.

President’s Budget Cuts WIC by Rescinding Previously Approved Funds

Although the amount of new funding requested matches President Biden’s budget request for fiscal year 2025, this budget (unlike the Biden request) would rescind $391 million in previously authorized WIC funding that would otherwise be available. Taking this rescission into account, less funding would be available than this year.

If Congress rejects the President’s proposal to take away fruit and vegetable benefits, it will need to appropriate additional funding — above the President’s budget request — to provide all anticipated participants with the full fruit and vegetable benefit. Otherwise, eligible families will be turned away for the first time in almost three decades.

In addition, the projection in the President’s budget that WIC will serve a monthly average of nearly 6.8 million people in fiscal year 2026 is likely to be too low. From October 2024 through February 2025 (the most recent data available), average monthly participation already exceeded 6.8 million, and participation usually increases during the latter half of the fiscal year. An economic downturn, an increase in food prices, or a cut to SNAP benefits could lead more families to become eligible for WIC and more eligible families to seek benefits. (Despite the dietary and health benefits associated with WIC participation, only about half of eligible people participate. Congress should build on the recent progress in enrolling eligible families by providing enough funding for participation to continue growing — not backtrack, as would occur under the President’s budget.)

With the President’s tariff policies raising the risk of recession and likely to increase the cost of groceries, WIC’s full nutrition benefit is critical to ensuring that low-income families with young children can continue to afford the foods they need for a healthy diet. Congress should disregard the proposed WIC fruit and vegetable benefit cut and ensure that the 2026 appropriations bill provides enough funding so that all eligible families who apply can continue to receive WIC’s full nutrition benefits.