Above: Two babies enjoy their first taste of orange juice, on a Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) project in Alabama, 1935. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
Above: A nurse weighs a baby at a WPA-funded nursery / clinic in New Orleans, 1936. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
As we all know by now, our Republican-led federal government is constantly trying to kick poor people off Medicaid, in the hopes that the money saved can be fed back to their wealthy right-wing donors. They've also dilly-dallied for months on the Children's Health Insurance Program, finally using it as a bargaining chip to garner some Democratic votes on other matters. Now we learn that they're also dragging their feet on the Community Health Center Fund, a federal program to help lower-income Americans receive healthcare ("Congress Left Health Care For Millions Of Poor People In The Lurch," Huffington Post, February 4, 2018).
Republicans have also routinely attacked the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or Food Stamps) and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). One Republican official summed up his party's attitude when he wrote, "Obama is rewarding the lazy pigs with food stamps." And a former Republican Lt. Governor from South Carolina once warned us not feed the poor "Because they might breed."
These constant Republican efforts to reduce, block, or eliminate assistance programs are harming and killing infants. For example, millions of American babies are not receiving adequate nutrition; and this malnutrition will probably put them at a disadvantage for the rest of their lives (see, e.g., "More Than Half Of American Babies Are At Risk For Malnourishment," Huffington Post, February 3, 2018). Infant mortality is also a serious problem, especially for the black community: "African American infants are 3.2 times as likely to die from complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants" ("Infant Mortality and African Americans," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; also see, "Black and White Infant Mortality Rates Show Wide Racial Disparities Still Exist," Newsweek, July 3, 2017).
In contrast to mean-spirited Republican policies, the New Deal increased nutrition and healthcare for lower-income Americans - and on a massive scale. With respect to nutrition, food was distributed through the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation and the Food Stamp Plan. With respect to healthcare, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration hired over 6,000 nurses to make 3.5 million home visits (FERA Work Division's final report, 1935, p. 76). And the WPA operated many health clinics across the country: "There were clinics in which prenatal care was given to expectant mothers, and there were other clinics where mothers were taught how to keep their babies in good health" (Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43, 1946, p. 69).
It is quite clear that our decision to move away from the New Deal, in favor of neoliberalism & trickle-down economics, is harming and killing infants. When President Bill Clinton decided to lead the Democratic Party rightward--stating, "The era of big government is over," and suggesting that we rely on "religious, charitable, and civic associations" instead--he may not have foreseen the disastrous consequences of such a shift (but he should have). Those consequences include: preventable illness & death, a halt to progress, and an electorate that is shockingly comfortable in its apathy.
Above: A WPA-built health clinic, staffed with WPA health assistants, in Birmingham, Alabama, 1938. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
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