Providing for Consideration of H.R. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
Today, we are here to consider a rule providing for consideration of H.R. 3807, the Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act.
This legislation gives a check to the Small Business Administration without accountability or oversight mechanisms or even taking into account SBA's feedback.
Mr. Speaker, this bill appropriates an additional $55 billion to restaurants and small businesses, none of which is paid for. According to the Congressional Budget Office, as much as $340 billion in unobligated funds from various COVID relief legislation is available for expenditure, but we are not reallocating those. Instead, we would be relying on more deficit spending to provide these sums. Structurally, this bill is not going to work. This is a lot of money, and it seems that Democrats just want to throw it to the wind, because when you look at how the funds are being distributed, this bill will not fix the problem. This is something that could have been addressed had the bill gone through the committee process.
Because this bill is not immediately or responsibly paid for, it would further fuel the inflation crisis, which currently sits at a 40- year high of 7.9 percent. Inflation is the number one problem facing small businesses, according to them. That is what they are saying. Instead of pushing through drastic increases of inflation-inducing deficit spending, we must work together to advance progrowth policies that empower small businesses to operate independently without burdensome restrictions.
I need to point out the political game Democrats are playing this session. They are proposing bills that have titles that make them seem like commonsense bills, but really, they are disingenuous attempts to fix real problems.
This was true of last week's insulin bill, and it is true of this bill. What is worse is they know that they are not coming up with real solutions. That is why we are now looking at yet another bill that has not been through the committee process, there has been no transparency, no opportunity to discuss, no public or minority input, and has real flaws as a result that will only exacerbate the problems my colleagues have created. My Democratic colleagues do not want to negotiate with Republicans or allow any input from anyone to come up with a bill that would actually help people.
It is also why my colleagues did not take up the ENTREE Act, which was introduced last summer, at a time when restaurants really needed it. That bill was also aimed at helping restaurants and small businesses recover from the damage done by the pandemic with proper oversight and constraints and didn't include discriminatory language that prioritized certain groups based on criteria other than need. That eventually, the Supreme Court had to put a stop to.
Now, we need to be focusing on the crises that are going on that are going to become problems for restaurants this year: workforce and inflation. We are still seeing ``help wanted'' signs all over the country. Businesses are desperate for a workforce. Congress needs to stop paying people to stay at home and encourage them to work. And inflation is hitting every single corner of the economy. Between increasing prices on all goods, and the effects we are already starting to feel in the food industry from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, consumers are going to start feeling the pain. And, unfortunately, when you are trying to save money, going out to eat is not one of the first things a family typically does. We need to be getting ahead of these issues, not coming up with insincere attempts under the guise of COVID relief.
Mr. Speaker, I oppose the rule and the underlying bill, and I ask Members to do the same.
I would just like to mention, we continue to talk about whether or not this is paid for. I respectfully ask: Where is the CBO score? That would answer the question if we actually had done any--put this legislation through any kind of process, through committee, getting the CBO score.
So I would question as to whether or not it was actually all paid for, as my colleague mentions. But I do think that if we had the CBO score, we could decide, finally, if it was paid for or not.
If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to provide for consideration of Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers and Congressman Westerman's American Energy Independence from Russia Act.
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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, for the fifth time, Republicans ask their colleagues to consider this bill. The average price at the pump two days before President Biden took office was $2.38 per gallon. They have been steadily climbing ever since.
On February 14, 6 days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the average price for per gallon was $3.49. These prices are affecting every single American.
When adjusted for the increasing prices on all goods, thanks to failed Democrat policies, wages and salaries are below pre-pandemic levels. My constituents are pleading with Congress to focus on this issue and are being ignored by the out-of-touch majority.
Now, for the fifth time, House Republicans are urging the majority to immediately bring relief at the pump now. While my colleagues continue to bring flawed, misguided, and unvetted legislation to the floor, House Republicans stand ready to work on issues that directly affect American's pocketbooks.
To further explain the amendment, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack).
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that my colleague from New York would love to have the conversation, would love to have the conversation in the appropriate venue, and I think we would also love to have that conversation, particularly in a committee if we could hear the bill. But the majority has chosen to shut out almost every single Republican bill and not hold hearings where that would be the appropriate venue.
For now, I suggest to my colleague from New York that he talk to his leadership about actually hearing this bill in committee, having the conversation, and having the transparency and the input that we could from the public. Until that time, Mr. Speaker, this is our venue.
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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, restaurants and small businesses are facing difficulties, and one of those challenges is high energy costs. Delivery costs go up. It costs more for their employees to get to work. It costs more for all of those things because of high energy costs. So this does affect restaurants and small businesses. I think this affects restaurants, small businesses, and every American.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I appreciate that my colleague from New York talks about an extraneous issue. But gas prices and the cost of energy in America is a serious issue, and it is facing every American. Every American is paying more at the pump, and they are facing the decision in their family budget of how they are going to use that.
In 2020, the last administration added 30 million barrels of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Now the Biden administration is weighing a plan to release roughly 1 million barrels of oil a day from this reserve for months on end, and this is after he released 30 million barrels in early March and 50 million barrels of oil back in November which did nothing to prevent a spike in energy prices.
Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers and Congressman Westerman have introduced the American Energy Independence Act to reverse President Biden's disastrous anti-American energy policies. This bill is a real solution, and it needs to be heard. We need to talk about this to the American people.
This bill, H.R. 3807, that we have before us is not going to help restaurants and small businesses. But, of course, that is not the Democrats' intention anyway. If it were, they would have brought this bill through committee and worked with Republicans to build an effective piece of legislation.
Instead, their intention is to push this legislation through that sounds good so that they can use it as a talking point to distract from their failed policies. This bill is just another example of the Democrats' reckless spending habits. Their solution to the effects of inflation is to throw even more money at it.
When will my colleagues learn that spending is what causes the inflation?
It is time for more pro-growth policies, not government handouts.
Mr. Speaker, I oppose the rule and the underlying bill, I ask Members to do the same, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
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