By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostIt appears Congress is poised to add nearly $500 billion in emergency
aid to the $2.2 trillion it has already allocated to help prop up an economy
brought low by COVID-19.Does northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves worry about the
impact on the national debt?“Yes. It’s extraordinarily frightening to me,” Graves tells
host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.Graves says Congress must act to help an ailing economy. But
the congressman says after the crisis passes, Congress must turn its attention
to reducing the federal deficit by getting a control on spending.“So, there are going to be some important decisions that are
made over the next few years, but we’ve got to get this deficit and the debt
under control,” Graves says.The Senate in Washington has approved a $484 billion addition
to its initial emergency bill to prop up the economy devastated by restrictions
imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The new allocation is the result
of negotiations carried out between the Trump Administration and Democratic Congressional
leaders. President Trump had asked for an additional $250 billion for small
businesses to keep employees on their payrolls. Democrats pushed for additional
funding to hospitals and to provide more COVID-19 testing.The bill now awaiting House consideration provides an
additional $310 billion for businesses with fewer than 500 employees, it adds $60
billion to a separate small business emergency grant and loan program, provides
$75 billion to hospitals, and authorizes $25 billion for new coronavirus
testing.Graves worries other important spending will now have to be
scaled back in wake of such large expenditures, such as the pending
transportation bill.“Infrastructure is something that is vitally important,”
according to Graves. “In fact, infrastructure is something that the government
should do and, by the way, should do well. But it will probably get shorted a little
bit this year just simply because of the amount of dollars that are being spend
as a result of the COVID-19.”Graves says the economy needs the help, but afterward Congress
needs to rein in spending.“We’re going to have to make some tough decisions.”

Graves: First, help the economy, then tackle the debt