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Federal Government budget cuts are threatening several agencies, including the WIC program.

If congress approves the cut, WIC stands to lose more than $500 million in funding for nutritional food assistance for women and children.

But can the proposed cuts be made without hurting those who truly need WIC?

KRCG's Facebook Crew spoke with health officials Thursday to find out how this would affect WIC if it happens.

The Cole County Health Department said that if the government makes budget cuts to WIC it will definitely have a huge impact on the people who use it.

"We could be impacting as much as 400,000 people in the U.S. in terms of the cut they're proposing. Here in Cole County I don't know exactly what those numbers are going to look like,” Cole County Health Department Melinda Ridenhour said.

Ridenhour said if the government decides to make the cut, WIC will more than likely start looking at people's nutritional risks to decide who will get their funding.

"The individuals that are higher risk will be given priority in the program and served first. Those that have lower risk factors in health and nutrition will probably be denied,” Ridenhour said.

I spoke with a lady that was 20 weeks pregnant who uses WIC and asked her how she would feel if she was denied funding from WIC.

"I think it would cause a bind in my life. I can't afford some of the things I need right now because I’m pregnant,” Cole County Resident Lynn Cooper said. “You know there comes limitations and it will be hard on me just as well as everyone else who uses WIC."

Cooper told me she thinks the government should re-think their proposed budget cuts on the WIC program because too many people will be affected.

“I think they don't know about the program enough to do this. If they think they're going to do this they need to study what they're doing to people,” Cooper said. “It's just too important."

Right now the fate of the WIC program rests in the hands of the U.S. Senate, which will likely decide on the cuts in September.

Tell is what you think. What do you think about the Federal Government's proposed cuts on the WIC program?

The WIC program is on the chopping block for Federal Government budget cuts.

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The program could lose over $500 million from their budget.

If this happens it could cause almost 400,000 women and children to loose nutritional food assistance.

But can these proposed cuts be made without hurting those who truly need WIC.

KRCG's Facebook crew spoke with health officials today to find how this will effect individuals on WIC.

Tell us what you think. Do you think the Federal Government should cut over $5 million out of WIC's budget?