Sponsors (4)
Official title: To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 with respect to the use of cash-value benefits and coupons for purchases of fresh, nutritious, unprepared foods from community supported agricultural entities, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 17, 2025 by Lauren Underwood · Last progress December 17, 2025
The bill broadens and simplifies access to fresh local foods for WIC and other nutrition-benefit recipients and creates new market opportunities for farmers, but does so at the cost of implementation and IT expenses, increased administrative/oversight burdens, and risks that small or informal vendors, privacy, and program integrity could be disadvantaged without careful execution.
Low-income WIC participants (including pregnant/postpartum women, infants, children, and seniors using FMNP/SFMNP) will have expanded access to fresh, local unprepared foods because benefits can be redeemed at more places and for a wider set of covered food items.
Small and mid-sized farmers, farmers' markets, and other covered agricultural entities will gain easier market access and more customers through automatic designation, a single online enrollment portal, training/technical assistance, and clarified participation rules and best practices.
WIC benefit transactions will be simpler and less stigmatizing for participants because cash-value and coupon funds can be integrated onto a single EBT access device and technical assistance will lower transaction barriers for vendors.
State agencies, USDA, and small vendors may face meaningful upfront and ongoing administrative and IT costs (portals, devices, Center operations, staff) to implement the changes, potentially diverting funds from other priorities or requiring new appropriations.
Tight deadlines, regulatory cross-references, and the need to adopt or update payment/device standards create implementation risk — delays or confusion could temporarily limit participant access or produce inconsistent local practices.
Expanding where benefits can be redeemed and automatically authorizing broad categories of 'farmers' increases the risk of ineligible redemptions, inconsistent product quality, and greater program oversight/fraud challenges for states and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Allows WIC cash-value benefits and coupon funds to be used and delivered via a single EBT device at farmers, markets, roadside stands, CSAs and other covered agricultural entities, and creates USDA technical assistance and a single producer portal.
Allows WIC participants to use cash-value benefits and WIC coupon funds to buy fresh, local, unprepared foods (including pre-order boxes) directly from farmers, farmers’ markets, roadside stands, community supported agriculture, and other covered agricultural entities, and requires those benefits be delivered and accepted on a single EBT access device. The bill also requires USDA to publish a single producer application portal, issue regulations and device lists, create a Technical Assistance Center to help producers accept federal nutrition benefits, and provide guidance and reporting to support implementation. The law sets deadlines for action: an application portal within 90 days, regulations and EBT/payment-device integration and State system changes within 18 months, and establishment of the Technical Assistance Center within 18 months; it requires annual reporting from the Center after an initial two-year report. Definitions mostly cross-reference existing Code/regulatory terms and the Act automatically designates qualifying farmers as authorized covered agricultural entities for WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program purposes.