Congress to provide more restaurants with coronavirus relief money

WASHINGTON, D. C. – The U.S. House of Representatives voted largely along party lines on Thursday to add an extra $42 billion to a coronavirus relief fund for restaurants and hotels. The money would aid more than 150,000 establishments around the country who missed out on earlier emergency grants.

House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said just a third of restaurants that applied for assistance from the initial Small Business Administration program received money. He said more than 90,000 restaurants and bars shut down during the pandemic, and the Independent Restaurant Coalition predicts many more restaurants could close without additional assistance.

The legislation also includes $13 billion for a new “Hard-Hit Industries Award Program” that would help small businesses that had trouble operating during the pandemic, such as gyms, health clubs, salons, music venues and other establishments where people couldn’t congregate during the pandemic, Hoyer said.

He said the aid money will come from funds that are recaptured from people who fraudulently tapped earlier relief programs.

The top Republican on the House Small Business Committee, Missouri’s Blaine Leutkemeyer, dismissed the bill as an example of “out of control” spending. He said the government should instead reduce regulations and “prioritize lowering taxes so small business owners and their workers can keep more of their hard earned money.”

“We simply need to move on from this COVID economy,” Leutkemeyer said. “In my judgement this is an irresponsible bill… This is about economic independence.”

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the bill appears to be mostly deficit-financed, and criticized the House of Representatives for approving it before the Congressional Budget Office could assess its fiscal impact.

“The government has already authorized over $6 trillion of COVID relief,” said a statement from the watchdog organization’s president, Maya MacGuineas. “With inflation surging, debt near record highs, and unemployment at pre-pandemic levels, now is not the time for more. Instead, we should be lowering deficits to help the Federal Reserve get inflation back under control.”

The bill’s Senate counterpart has been referred to its Small Business Committee. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, is a cosponsor.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Niles-area Democrat who supported the bill, said Ohio restaurants got $586 million from the earlier round of funding. He said the new hard hit industries program will assist Ohio small businesses with 200 or fewer employees that have experienced 40 percent or more in lost revenue and were not eligible for previous COVID-19 grants or awards.

“Ohio’s nearly 1 million small businesses are critical to our economy, employing nearly half of all workers state-wide,” said a statement from U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, a Cleveland-area Democrat who voted for the bill. “The American Rescue Plan helped thousands of small businesses survive and ensured their employees could support their families. This bill would build on that success by giving eligible restaurants another shot at accessing relief and establishing a new program to support Northeast Ohio’s hardest-hit small businesses.”

AP File Photo | Brittainy Newman