Locally, the City Council held a public hearing Monday where a range of city officials testified to the expected effects of the nutrition cuts.

"The block grant will be done just on the basis of, 'We're going to appropriate so much money, and it has to be enough,'" said former may-or Alice K. Wolf, co-chair of the Cambridge Kids' Council, in an interview yesterday.

"It will not in any way correlate with what needs are," Wolf added. "It will correlate with what someone's budget needs are."

"None of the provisions that now currently exist in WIC would exist under the PRA," said Ellen S. Teller, associate director for government affairs for the Washington-based Food Research Action Center. "By block-granting them the states will get x amount of dollars to run programs and they won't get any more."

Teller said the Republican plan gives state governments too much discretion over how to disburse their funds.

For instance, under the PRA states could simplyincrease food stamps for pregnant women at theexpense of other programs such as WIC, accordingto Teller.

Supporters of the programs say the proposalfails to account for recessions or naturaldisasters, since the revamped programs would havea fixed spending limit.

"You have no flexibility to changes in theeconomy and the environment, coupled with nonutritional standards," Teller said. "It really isa double-whammy."

Theoretically the consolidation of the programswould not require a cut in funding, but theRepublican leaders' proposal calls for both afive-percent reduction in the nutrition programsand a cap on future increases.

"The history of block grants is that the peoplepropose this largely to reduce the share they putin," Wolf said. "It's highly unlikely next yearthat they would raise [the appropriation] forinflation or for need."

"WIC could be ended," Annette S. Zucco, programdirector of Cambridge WIC, said in an interviewyesterday. "They're just going to lump us into oneprogram and say 'Do it.' There won't be anystandards."

Though WIC currently gives food vouchers towomen, Zucco said the proposal might replace thecoupons with cash. "If people get cash, who knowswhat they're going to do with [it], or what typesof food purchases they'll make?" Zucco asked."Often people have to choose between paying theirheating bill and buying food."

The Republican proposal is part of a largereffort to reduce welfare programs, and HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has repeatedlycriticized entitlement programs as leading to a"culture" of dependency.

But Zucco tried to distance WIC from welfare.

"The food programs have been around for so manyyears, and the government doesn't spend a lot ofmoney on them to begin with," she said. "WIC can'tbe any more efficient than what it is [now]. Tolump it into welfare reform is not reallyappropriate."

Effective and Efficient Use'