WIC Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2011 To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to increase the age of eligibility for children to receive benefits under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 18, 2021 Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N, Ms. SCHRIER, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to increase the age of eligibility for children to receive benefits under the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wise Investment in 4 Children Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘WIC Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2011 IH SEC. 2. AGE OF ELIGIBILITY FOR CHILDREN UNDER THE 1 SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PRO- 2 GRAM. 3 (a) DEFINITION OF CHILD.—Section 17 of the Child 4 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (b), by striking paragraph (2) 6 and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(2) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means— 8 ‘‘(A) a person who has attained their first 9 birthday but has not yet attained their fifth 10 birthday; and 11 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection 12 (d)(3)(A)(iii)(II), a person who has attained 13 their first birthday but has not yet attained 14 their sixth birthday.’’; 15 (2) in subsection (e)(4)(A), by striking ‘‘up to 16 age 5’’; and 17 (3) in subsection (f)(7)(D)(i), by striking 18 ‘‘under the age of 5’’. 19 (b) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A)(iii) of the 20 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 21 1786(d)(3)(A)(iii)) is amended— 22 (1) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and inserting the fol- 23 lowing: 24 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A State’’; 25 and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2011 IH (2) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(II) 5-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN.— 2 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—Sub- 3 ject to a waiver under clause (vi), 4 beginning not later than October 5 1, 2026, a State shall certify a 6 participant child who has had a 7 fifth birthday but has not yet at- 8 tained their sixth birthday, dur- 9 ing the period that ends on the 10 earlier of— 11 ‘‘(AA) the sixth birth- 12 day of the child; and 13 ‘‘(BB) the first date on 14 which the child attends full 15 day kindergarten. 16 ‘‘(bb) REQUIREMENTS.— 17 Each State that certifies a child 18 under item (aa) shall— 19 ‘‘(AA) ensure that the 20 participant child receives re- 21 quired health and nutrition 22 assessments; and 23 ‘‘(BB) establish a sys- 24 tem to determine the first 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2011 IH date on which a participant 1 child attends full day kin- 2 dergarten.’’. 3 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4 1902(a)(53)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 5 1396a(a)(53)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘below the age 6 of 5’’ and inserting ‘‘(as defined in that section)’’. 7 SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION OF INFANTS. 8 (a) DEFINITION OF INFANT.—Section 17(b) of the 9 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b)) is 10 amended by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(5) INFANT.—The term ‘infant’ means— 13 ‘‘(A) a person under 1 year of age; and 14 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a per- 15 son under 2 years of age.’’. 16 (b) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A) of the 17 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(d)(3)(A)) 18 is amended by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(iv) INFANTS.— 20 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to a 21 waiver under clause (vi), beginning 22 not later than October 1, 2026, a 23 State shall certify an infant for a pe- 24 riod of not more than 2 years. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2011 IH ‘‘(II) ASSESSMENTS.—In certi- 1 fying an infant under subclause (I), a 2 State shall ensure that the infant re- 3 ceives required health and nutrition 4 assessments.’’. 5 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF POSTPARTUM PERIOD. 6 (a) BREASTFEEDING WOMEN.— 7 (1) DEFINITION OF BREASTFEEDING WOMAN.— 8 Section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 9 U.S.C. 1786(b)) is amended by striking paragraph 10 (1) and inserting the following: 11 ‘‘(1) BREASTFEEDING WOMAN.—The term 12 ‘breastfeeding woman’ means— 13 ‘‘(A) a woman who is not more than 1 year 14 postpartum and is breastfeeding the infant of 15 the woman; and 16 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a 17 woman who is not more than 2 years 18 postpartum and is breastfeeding the infant of 19 the woman.’’. 20 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A)(ii) of 21 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 22 1786(d)(3)(A)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘1 year’’ 23 and all that follows through ‘‘earlier’’ and inserting 24 ‘‘not more than 2 years postpartum’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2011 IH (b) POSTPARTUM WOMEN.— 1 (1) DEFINITION OF POSTPARTUM WOMAN.— 2 Section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 3 U.S.C. 1786(b)) is amended by striking paragraph 4 (10) and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘(10) POSTPARTUM WOMAN.—The term 6 ‘postpartum woman’ means— 7 ‘‘(A) a woman up to 6 months after termi- 8 nation of pregnancy; and 9 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a 10 woman up to 2 years after termination of preg- 11 nancy.’’. 12 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A) of 13 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 14 1786(d)(3)(A)) (as amended by section 3(b)) is 15 amended by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(v) POSTPARTUM WOMEN.—Subject to a waiver 17 under clause (vi), beginning not later than October 1, 18 2026, a State shall certify a postpartum woman for a pe- 19 riod of up to 2 years after the termination of pregnancy 20 of the postpartum woman.’’. 21 SEC. 5. WAIVER FOR CERTIFICATION. 22 Section 17(d)(3)(A) of the Child Nutrition Act of 23 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(d)(3)(A)) (as amended by section 24 4(b)(2)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2011 IH (1) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘clause (ii)’’ and 1 inserting ‘‘this subparagraph’’; and 2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(vi) WAIVER.— 4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec- 5 retary may grant a waiver to a State 6 agency, on request, that waives the 7 certification deadline requirement de- 8 scribed in clause (iii), (iv), or (v). 9 ‘‘(II) SPECIFIC DATE.—A State 10 agency requesting a waiver under sub- 11 clause (I) shall specify a date by 12 which the State agency anticipates 13 that it will implement the certification 14 requirement under clause (iii), (iv), or 15 (v) for which it seeks a waiver. 16 ‘‘(III) ELIGIBILITY FOR WAIV- 17 ER.—To be eligible for a waiver under 18 subclause (I), a State agency shall 19 demonstrate to the satisfaction of the 20 Secretary 1 or more of the following: 21 ‘‘(aa) There are unusual 22 technological barriers to imple- 23 mentation. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2011 IH ‘‘(bb) Operational costs are 1 not affordable within the nutri- 2 tion services and administration 3 grant of the State agency. 4 ‘‘(cc) It is in the best inter- 5 est of the program for the Sec- 6 retary to grant the waiver.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:14 May 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2011.IH H2011 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS