New pilot fills gap for infants with medical formula needs outside WIC
H.R. 9007 — Constance C. McDaniel Medically Necessary Infant Formula and Donor Milk Act · Filed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced May 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to create a three-year pilot program providing financial assistance (vouchers, reimbursements, or grants) to parents and guardians who cannot access the WIC program but have medical reasons preventing breastfeeding or requiring specialized infant formula—including cases of adoption, maternal death, or children with feeding disorders. The program targets families earning above WIC thresholds but facing genuine medical barriers, and requires annual reporting to Congress on participation and outcomes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a narrowly scoped pilot program filling a documented gap in existing nutrition assistance (WIC) for medically vulnerable infants. It is not a broad entitlement, not a deregulation, and not a subsidy to industry—it is a time-limited, means-tested public health intervention.
What the text implies
- Program eligibility hinges on medical professional diagnosis; access may vary by geography and provider availability, potentially creating disparities in who can document medical need.
- Pilot sunset after 3 years creates uncertainty for families; continuation would require new legislative action, risking program discontinuity.
- Definition of 'eligible individual' excludes WIC participants but does not specify income ceiling, potentially creating a gap where middle-income families with medical barriers qualify while lower-income WIC-eligible families do not.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a targeted safety net for families with documented medical needs (maternal illness, adoption, child feeding disorders) who fall through existing WIC eligibility gaps. It addresses a genuine public-health gap—infants with specialized medical needs whose parents cannot access current programs—without restricting anyone's existing rights or protections.
Who stands to gain
- families with medically vulnerable infants
- donor human milk banks (potential increased demand)
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), donor human milk banks, infant formula manufacturers (indirect)
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- May 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 21, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $50,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the sponsor, reported $768,550 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Bobbie Baby, Inc. — $50,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,085 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-23.
“New pilot fills gap for infants with medical formula needs outside WIC” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr9007 Report an error
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