When the 89th General Assembly begins Monday at the Iowa State Capitol, legislators will discuss pandemic response. State Representative Jon Thorup of Knoxville says that he would support the authorization of rainy day funds if that money is able to be spent responsibly.

“It gets a little tricky with the rainy day fund. The thing to remember about that is that legally, we have to pay that back within 12 months. So it’s not as if we can spend that and slowly build it back up. Having said that, I know that small businesses in the area, all over the nation actually, have had a lot of problems just keeping their doors open, making sure PPE is going where it needs to go. I’m absolutely in favor of paying for some of that stuff as long as we can afford it. But the point is yes, as long as we can do it responsibly, I’m all about spending some money to help small businesses and that type of enterprise.”

Thorup adds that he believes adequate funds are available for those purposes. He was reelected for his second term in this fall’s general election. District 28 encompasses most of Marion, and parts of Jasper and Lucas Counties.