Weather warm-up signals brighter days ahead

Warm greetings! As we wrap up another week of physical distancing, it is nice to see the weather forecast improving. I'm sure the farmers are thinking of planting and gardeners are looking forward to working up the soil in the warm sun!

By now, you likely have all the COVID-19 sites at the local, state and federal levels memorized or bookmarked on your devices. We have all been inundated with “the latest” during the nonstop news re-porting on the subject. I per-sonally have spent a great deal of time on conference calls with the White House Intergovern-mental Affairs Office, legislative groups, and other solution stakeholders.

The biggest discussion right now is reopening the country and each of our states. I am convinced it can be done wise-ly; in a manner that continues to protect our health and puts our people back to work. Some of the nation’s leading econo-mists agree that the next six weeks will determine our fu-ture.

Every state will need to determine the speed and the method best suited for their specific set of circumstances. As you've heard me say be-fore, Iowa is not like New Jersey and therefore will not seek a one-size-fits-all solution in revitalizing our economy. At the same time, infrastructure like railroads, airlines and our trucking industry can’t func-tion effectively with a state-by-state approach. Federal and state government have to work together. I could write the en-tire newsletter about Federal-ism, but I will simply say I think it is good that both the President and the Governor are moving forward for the benefit of us all.

To that end, businesses and individual taxpayers alike are being taken care of. On Mon-day, 80 million checks were deposited in Americans' bank accounts from Federal legisla-tion that was passed. People have been receiving grants and loans through various state and federal programs. Current-ly, the Payroll Protection Pro-gram has exhausted the appro-priation, and states and local governments, hospitals and others have received much-needed funds to provide imme-diate economic relief.

There are many opinions on how much funding is enough, but I personally hope the Fed-eral government doesn't try to backfill all the states and local governments. I say that for two reasons, although there are others, I'm sure.

First, the Federal govern-ment only gets money from you, the taxpayer, or by print-ing it. Obviously, neither is a good option when considering additional appropriations be-yond our ability to pay for them. We can all be thankful that Iowa has done a good job of planning and saving for emergencies and making sure we not only balanced the budget, but resisted runaway spending just because there was money left at the end of the year. We saved it, and so did many other states. That puts us ahead of the curve for recovery.

Second, using Federal dol-lars to bail out states is like using your MasterCard to pay your Visa bill. The burden will be on the taxpayer or the Fed-eral government will need to reduce programs and services in other areas to accommodate a backfill. The most prudent thing is to proceed with cau-tion. We all want to help our neighbors, and we have done that as we have gone through this crisis. But it's time to pause, evaluate and prioritize when it comes to spending more taxpayer money.

Another topic of concern as we move forward is testing for COVID-19. The necessary reagents are in huge demand. Understandably, most go to the outbreak hotspots. About 50,000 Abbott rapid tests are being produced daily. Three antibody tests have been ap-proved by the FDA and many more are making their way through trials. Newer tests require much less PPE. In all testing, accuracy is key. We know we have more capacity for running the tests, but we still need the actual test sup-plies.

Finally, as we begin the broader recovery process in our state and country we must be vigilant that our rights and freedoms are not curtailed, but rather restored. It will take time, because every decade or two, when we face a true na-tional crisis, we find ourselves with more government and less freedom.

As I close, I want to give a shout-out that also serves as a resource for you. All my col-leagues are writing newsletters, and I receive most of them. One caught my eye yesterday. Check out Representative Me-gan Jones' newsletter. It has many links to resources that may interest you. In a similar vein, FEMA's website has a page devoted to help you iden-tify inaccurate information. Visit fema.gov/coronavirus to help you sort out anything erroneous that may be circulat-ing.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to reach out. You can contact me by email at Linda.Upmeyer@legis.iowa.gov or by phone at 515-281-3551.