We Cannot Leave Workers Behind

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Act which included an amendment that I worked on with my team and many of the folks that led this effort to prohibit the funds from going to businesses who have committed wage theft against their employees.

This simple change will make sure that our valuable Federal dollars are being used to support businesses who do right by their workers, not those who rip off their workers and steal their labor.

There is no doubt that a thriving restaurant industry is good for everyone, but it is the workers who really make the restaurants and businesses who they are today. And workers are the reason that so many of them made it through this awful and continued pandemic.

We cannot leave those workers behind, as I said, and with this bill and my amendment, we are making clear that if you cheat or exploit your employees, the Federal Government will not do business with you.

As I continue to work in Congress to end wage theft and expand the powers of our workers, I want to thank my colleagues, again, Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, as well as Congressman Dean Phillips, for their work in improving this bill and moving it forward. I urge the Senate to take this bill up as soon as possible.

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