U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is calling on Congress to consider a disaster program for poultry producers similar to what’s in place for other livestock producers. He says it would be less costly to the government than dealing with the outbreaks as individual disasters.

Vilsack says the U.S. government will spend nearly $200 million to pay chicken and turkey producers for birds lost to avian flu. However, he says that’s not enough to take to a banker to get an operating loan to repopulate. That’s why a disaster program is essential.

The $200 million in indemnity is just a portion of the $700 million price tag for the AI outbreak, USDA spent another $400 million on clean up and disinfection and is also paying to research and stockpile a bird flu vaccine in case the virus returns.

The avian influenza outbreak is considered by many to be one of the worst animal disease disasters to ever hit the U.S. The bird flu killed 48 million birds in 15 states in the Midwest.