Off the back of a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package from the federal government, one member of Congress is cautioning against additional appropriations.

Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District Representative Steve King voted in favor for the $2.2 trillion dollar Coronavirus Relief Package and he says it is the largest financial package ever passed by Congress in U.S. history. King points out parts of the funds include $376 billion to the Small Business Administration, $14 billion to the Commodity Credit Corporation and $9.5 billion to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, he wants to make sure some of that funding is addressing disparities in the cattle industry.

“Especially those that are losing $150 or more per head for every head of cattle that they’re finishing, while on the packer-side of it that margin looks like they’re picking up $500-$600 per head. That’s as much disparity as I have ever seen.”   

King doesn’t believe the amount is enough for U.S. citizens, though he wants to prevent what happened with the Katrina Hurricane relief bills in 2005 for Louisiana. Kings says he voted in favor of the first appropriations bill of $10 billion of relief, but voted against the second bill of over $50 billion because he thought not enough prudent research was done.

“So it was a bit of a lesson, but I did support this $2.2 trillion (coronavirus relief package). If they come back for another one (appropriation) then we need to be very prudent about additional appropriations: how it’s targeted and have a good understanding of how we’re doing to get a decent return on that investment.” 

King adds he would not be against another appropriation bill but he wants to ensure keeping small businesses, families and family farms together through this crisis.