By WI Web Editor and Richard D. Elliott

April 15, 2026

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks speaks on the Senate floor against the SAVE Act. (Courtesy of Office of Sen. Angela Alsobrooks)

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, Maryland’s first African American senator, has been busy working to further health and economic equity. 

During March, Women’s History Month, Alsobrooks sponsored legislation to expand the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, revamp federal banking insurance, and provide additional health care screenings.

Alsobrooks co-introduced the Extending WIC for New Moms Act, a bicameral bill to expand eligibility and support mothers and infants into the postpartum and breastfeeding periods through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for WIC programs. 

“For children in low-income homes, food scarcity can impact their overall health for the rest of their lives. After Republicans decimated food assistance programs like SNAP in their ‘Big, Beautiful bill,’ we need to re-double our efforts to support vulnerable new moms to ensure their families are able to grow and thrive together,” said Alsobrooks. “Extending WIC eligibility for mothers in postpartum and breastfeeding periods just makes sense and is a critical part of our plan to improve maternal and child health.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-introduced the legislation, emphasized the importance of the bill overall.  

 “Lack of access to nutritious food has serious impacts on a child’s health and development,” Blumenthal said in a statement. With the Extending WIC for New Moms Act, we will support vulnerable families and strengthen their ability to grow, thrive, and stay healthy.”

The Maryland senator is also co-sponsoring the bipartisan Uterine Fibroid Intervention and Gynecological Health Treatment (U-FIGHT) Act and the Women’s Heart Health Expansion Act.

The U-FIGHT Act seeks to expand access to early screening, detection, and intervention methods for individuals diagnosed with uterine fibroids. The Women’s Heart Health Expansion Act would reauthorize and expand access to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation (WISEWOMAN) program, which provides free cardiovascular risk screenings to reduce the risk for heart disease and stroke to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured women ages 35–64. 

“I know many of us agree with the need to invest in women’s health research. We have an obligation to our daughters to combat the conditions with crippling pain or higher risk of chronic disease,” Alsobrooks said during a March 19 hearing. 

In addition, the Main Street Depositor Protection Act, which Alsobrooks is co-sponsoring, would allow the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporations (FDIC) to insure some bank accounts up to $5,000,000— significantly higher than the current threshold of $250,000. The barrier-breaking senator is collaborating with Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on the legislation. 

“This bipartisan legislation would require a data driven process to increase deposit insurance coverage levels for business checking accounts at most banks and credit unions,” Alsobrooks said in a statement. “Our small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and they often rely on community banks and credit unions. Responsibly raising the deposit insurance threshold will protect employees and businesses in times of crisis and strengthen our overall financial system.”