Proposed Cuts to the Mass. WIC Program Cannot Be Allowed to Stand

Gandhi famously said “A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” The same sentiment can certainly be applied to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - and its leaders Gov. Deval Patrick and the state legislature. And I can think of no better time to do so than right now as those worthies move to slash the budget of the Women, Infants and Children program by 20 percent in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget - following three years of nine percent annual cuts to WIC. Dropping the WIC budget from $12.4 million to $9.8 million in one fell swoop. For there can be no people weaker in this state than the mothers and children made poor by structural inequality and male supremacy. And one can hardly call Massachusetts any kind of “great” state in the future if it goes through with this heartless travesty of a budget cut.

The WIC program provides supplemental food, health care referrals, and nutrition education to over 130,000 low-income women in Massachusetts who are pregnant, breast-feeding, or raising young children. The average monthly benefit per child is hardly spendthrift - and barely sufficient - doling out a dozen eggs, 16 quarts of milk and $6 in vouchers that can be used for fruit, vegetables and other goods. But it’s reduction - or elimination for some families - will consign many children with no other means of support to a diet of processed foods that will hamper their development. Adding more cards to a deck of life that’s already stacked against them.

I’ll be taking a look at state budget matters in the weeks to come. But these cuts to WIC clearly cannot be allowed to stand. Open Media Boston therefore encourages all our viewers to contact the Mass. House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and the office of Gov. Patrick to lodge their opposition to any further cuts to the WIC program. Ask them if perhaps they might find the needed funds in cuts to international trade junkets by high government officials and eliminating giveaways to whatever industries happen to be sticking their snouts deepest into the government trough this year. I'm thinking that type of cut would fix this problem in short order. Let's see what they think.

Jason Pramas is the Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston