Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of United States House of Representatives, the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, Republican Leader of United States House of Representatives - Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher and More Than 100 House Members Call for Additional Aid for Restaurants

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:

We write to respectfully urge you to quickly replenish the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF)
program to appropriate funding levels to meet current demand.

On May 26th Administrator Isabel Guzman of the Small Business Administration (SBA) appeared in a full House Small Business Committee hearing. She testified that as of May 24th, the date the RRF program application portal closed, the RRF had received more than 362,000 applications -- with a total of $75 billion in funding requested. As of May 18th, the SBA reported that so far nearly 38,000 applicants have been approved for more than $6 billion.

We commend the prior work of the House to make the RRF program a reality with an allocation of $28.6 billion. However, this program is in extremely high-demand and at current funding levels the SBA will not be able to assist a large portion of the applicants.

We urge you to work together with House Small Business Committee leadership and the SBA to bring a bill to the floor that would allocate funds so every eligible applicant can receive assistance. Our economy is still emerging from the immense damage of the COVID-19 crisis and our hardest hit small businesses, such as restaurants, bars, and food trucks, are still navigating the impacts of over a year of lockdown orders and limits to capacity among other health requirements.

These entities are the beating heart of every community, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put the survival of these small businesses on the line every day. The impact on these businesses causes a ripple effect impacting supply chains, local farmers, and employees. Since the pandemic upended American life, thousands of local restaurants, taprooms, and caterers have been forced to close their doors. Many of these businesses still face an uncertain future.

We have the opportunity to ensure these small businesses get the relief they need by replenishing this program to meet the current need. We urge you to support our local economies by investing in the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. We must act now.

Thank you for your consideration of our request. We look forward to partnering with you on this
important issue.

Source