The bipartisan “Super Committee,” tasked with balancing the U.S. budget, has failed to reach an agreement. This failure may trigger automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years.

These automatic cuts would affects programs that are vital to some of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, including the Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides essential food and nutrition counseling for low-income women and children. If these cuts go into effect, nearly one million of the program’s participants would lose this vital service.

The WIC program ensures that pregnant mothers and young children get the nutrients they need to stay healthy. It’s also extremely cost-effective. The program saves billions of dollars in health care costs by keeping babies healthier.

The Women Infant and Children program is also used by thousands of members of our armed forces, Veterans and their families. In my work leading the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and as an Assistant Secretary of the Dept. of VA, I saw first hand the importance and successes of these types of programs in serving Veterans and their families. In fact, such programs are particularly important for Veterans because they are much more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. This includes an increasing number of female Veterans, who tend to bring children into homelessness with them.

I agree that the government must create a more fiscally responsible future. But we cannot balance the budget on the backs of those who need help most, including those who answered our nation’s call to serve. Please join me in calling on Washington to find practical solutions to balancing the budget--because allowing children to go hungry is not the answer.