OR U.S. House District 3 issued the following announcement on Apr. 7.
Today, Representative Earl Blumenauer released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 223-203 to pass the Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 (H.R. 3807) legislation introduced by Reps. Blumenauer (D-OR) and Fitzpatrick (R-PA) to support small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote comes just weeks after Blumenauer led 150+ lawmakers in a letter demanding the House vote on legislation to support restaurants:
“While we are moving out of the crisis phase of this pandemic, the devastating economic impacts will linger for years. Restaurants and their employees have been hit harder than any other industry during this crisis. They were the first forced to shut down by state and local government in March 2020, and they were the last allowed to reopen. Unemployment in the restaurant industry remains stubbornly slow to recover and approximately 90,000 restaurants have closed permanently since the start of the pandemic.
“Restaurants are the cornerstone of a livable community: they have employed nearly 60% of Americans at some point in their lives, they are a major source of employment for people of color, and they support a $1 trillion supply chain. It is not enough to address just the health-related concerns of this pandemic, we must support our beloved restaurants and protect the jobs, supply chains, and local economies they support.
“The federal government has provided some help to these institutions through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a program based on my RESTAURANTS Act that I first introduced in June 2020. But the program has fallen short. Only one-third of all applicants were funded, leaving nearly 177,000 hanging in the balance.
“Today’s vote for my Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act finishes the job. This legislation is simple: it funds restaurants that did not receive awards, it helps other battered industries like live events, travel, hospitality, and fitness, and it supports shuttered venues. And it will be paid for with fraudulent pandemic relief funds that are recovered.
“While COVID case numbers are low and the American public is ready to move beyond the pandemic, our small businesses have still not fully recovered – which is why this legislation is so critical. I look forward to advocating for this legislation passage in the Senate and getting it to the President’s desk.”
For those unable to join today’s joint press conference on the passage of the Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 (H.R. 3807) with the Independent Restaurant here is the full recording.
Original source can be found here.
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