House Republicans are expected to vote this week for the fiscal year 2012 Agriculture appropriations bill, that has a provision on page 13 requiring the National Arboretum maintain a very specific portion of its azalea collection, because flowers are pretty and smell nice. Why does this matter? While provisions are being made to keep us fully stocked in flora, the bill would cut $832 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program which provides food assistance to low-income mothers and children nationwide. Continue reading