WIC Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2358 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 31, 2019 Mr. CASEY (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 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 2019’’ or the ‘‘WIC Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2358 IS 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 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2358 IS (2) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(II) 5-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN.— 2 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—A 3 State may elect to certify a par- 4 ticipant child who has had a fifth 5 birthday but has not yet attained 6 their sixth birthday, during the 7 period that ends on the earlier 8 of— 9 ‘‘(AA) the sixth birth- 10 day of the child; and 11 ‘‘(BB) the first date on 12 which the child attends full 13 day kindergarten. 14 ‘‘(bb) REQUIREMENTS.— 15 Each State that elects to certify 16 a child under item (aa) shall— 17 ‘‘(AA) ensure that the 18 participant child receives re- 19 quired health and nutrition 20 assessments; and 21 ‘‘(BB) establish a sys- 22 tem to determine the first 23 date on which a participant 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2358 IS child attends full day kin- 1 dergarten.’’. 2 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3 1902(a)(53)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1396a(a)(53)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘below the age 5 of 5’’ and inserting ‘‘(as defined in that section)’’. 6 SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION OF INFANTS. 7 (a) DEFINITION OF INFANT.—Section 17(b) of the 8 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b)) is 9 amended by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(5) INFANT.—The term ‘infant’ means— 12 ‘‘(A) a person under 1 year of age; and 13 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a per- 14 son under 2 years of age.’’. 15 (b) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A) of the 16 Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(d)(3)(A)) 17 is amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(iv) INFANTS.— 19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A State may 20 elect to certify an infant for a period 21 of not more than 2 years. 22 ‘‘(II) ASSESSMENTS.—In certi- 23 fying an infant under subclause (I), a 24 State shall ensure that the infant re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2358 IS ceives required health and nutrition 1 assessments.’’. 2 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF POSTPARTUM PERIOD. 3 (a) BREASTFEEDING WOMEN.— 4 (1) DEFINITION OF BREASTFEEDING WOMAN.— 5 Section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 6 U.S.C. 1786(b)) is amended by striking paragraph 7 (1) and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘(1) BREASTFEEDING WOMAN.—The term 9 ‘breastfeeding woman’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) a woman who is not more than 1 year 11 postpartum and is breastfeeding the infant of 12 the woman; and 13 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a 14 woman who is not more than 2 years 15 postpartum and is breastfeeding the infant of 16 the woman.’’. 17 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A)(ii) of 18 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 19 1786(d)(3)(A)(ii)) is amended by striking ‘‘1 year’’ 20 and all that follows through ‘‘earlier’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘not more than 2 years postpartum’’. 22 (b) POSTPARTUM WOMEN.— 23 (1) DEFINITION OF POSTPARTUM WOMAN.— 24 Section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2358 IS U.S.C. 1786(b)) is amended by striking paragraph 1 (10) and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(10) POSTPARTUM WOMAN.—The term 3 ‘postpartum woman’ means— 4 ‘‘(A) a woman up to 6 months after termi- 5 nation of pregnancy; and 6 ‘‘(B) for purposes of subsection (d), a 7 woman up to 2 years after termination of preg- 8 nancy.’’. 9 (2) CERTIFICATION.—Section 17(d)(3)(A) of 10 the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 11 1786(d)(3)(A)) (as amended by section 3(b)) is 12 amended by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(v) POSTPARTUM WOMEN.—A State 14 may elect to certify a postpartum woman 15 for a period of up to 2 years after the ter- 16 mination of pregnancy of the postpartum 17 woman.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2358.IS S2358 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS