Pappas Leads Colleagues in Pushing for Speaker Johnson to Bring House Back to Fund WIC
WIC offices in New Hampshire will halt operations at the beginning of next month due to the lack of federal funding
Today Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) led 49 members in demanding that Speaker Mike Johnson bring Members back to Washington immediately to protect funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02) also signed the letter.
Stressing that the House has been out of session for over a month, the members wrote, “It is unacceptable that the House of Representatives has been out of session for five weeks amidst a full government shutdown, allowing partisan politics to put the nearly 7 million pregnant women, new parents, children and infants who rely on WIC in danger of losing critical resources.”
“While Democrats have repeatedly returned to Washington in an attempt to begin discussions to end the shutdown, Republicans have consistently refused to negotiate to protect health care and maintain our constituents’ access to vital federal resources. People in every state rely on WIC for access to healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to other services. Without these benefits, the 41% of American infants who are served by WIC are at risk of going hungry. We demand you bring commonsense legislation to the floor to ensure that WIC remains funded until the government reopens,” they continued.
They concluded by stressing the urgent need to put politics aside and protect WIC for mothers and children, saying, “It is time for Congress to come together to protect the pregnant women, new mothers, babies, and young children who depend on WIC for food, education, and other essential resources. We must put politics aside to end the distress that WIC recipients are experiencing and protect this program that families depend on. We demand that you call the House back into session and bring legislation to the floor to ensure that WIC is funded through the remainder of the shutdown.”
Background:
Pappas has consistently advocated for Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats to produce a bipartisan funding agreement that helps working families and small businesses. He joined colleagues in calling out Speaker Mike Johnson’s irresponsible decision to cancel House voting days with no government funding deal in sight, and has demanded he immediately reconvene the House. Pappas supports a resolution to change House rules and require the House to remain in session during future shutdowns.
Last Friday Pappas joined over 200 of his colleagues in demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture use Congressionally authorized SNAP contingency funds to provide food assistance to Americans as the Republican shutdown approaches its second month. He has helped reintroduce the Pay Our Troops Act of 2026, the Pay Our Public Shipyard Workers Act with Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, and joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter this month demanding the Trump administration follow the law to backpay furloughed government employees.