Lawmakers involved in negotiations say support has been building among members for legislation aimed at supporting businesses that have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and a leader in discussions on the matter was positive Thursday while addressing his, and Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R-Miss.) efforts to gain more support for the push among their colleagues.
“We are continuing to try to get broader support,” Cardin told The Hill before adding he thinks lawmakers are “pretty close” to securing the necessary support for the push.
Cardin said the primary focus in talks has been to replenish relief funding for restaurants after a previous batch of funds allocated by Congress ran out months back. The funding would come at a vital time, advocates say, as restaurants struggle with the economic effects of the ongoing pandemic, especially as staffing shortages persist in parts of the nation and inflation tacks on to food costs.
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Sean Kennedy, Executive Vice President of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association, told The Hill that the funding “could not happen soon enough,” stressing that thousands of restaurants “are closed permanently or long term” as many businesses find a hard time recovering during the pandemic.
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“Restaurants are still incredibly vulnerable right now and we're getting the triple whammy of inflationary costs affecting our food prices, a labor shortage that shows no sign of resolving itself and omicron continues to wreak havoc on consumer confidence and the ability of restaurants to offer indoor dining,” he said.
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Last year, lawmakers passed more than $28 billion in relief funds allocated to restaurants and bars as part of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) that was established through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Biden signed in March that included money for numerous programs, ranging from expansions to the child tax credit and ObamaCare, as well as vaccine distribution efforts, among other measures.
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But supporters said that, while those funds were effective in helping many restaurants remain operating in the short term, a chunk of restaurants were left behind in the process.
“The RRF was fantastic because it helped about a third of the restaurants that needed it. But there are two thirds of the restaurants out there that did not get them,” Caroline Styne, an Independent Restaurant Coalition board member, said Friday.
“One hundred and seventy-seven thousand restaurants didn't get this much-needed relief, and they're the ones that have either had to temporarily close, permanently close or are just barely eking by,” she said.
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