Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

And I would respond, this bill is about economic resilience. You can't be independent if you go bankrupt. You can't be independent if you can't operate your business. I have gone into restaurant after restaurant in my district, and the owners of those restaurants have had thanks for me, for the Congress, and, yes, for the administration, including Donald Trump, who signed many of these bills, that at a time of extraordinary stress--through no fault of their own, but a pandemic that attacked all of us--they were able to keep their heads above water, pay their employees, even if they couldn't be open, transfer to carry out, and do so many things that they were able to do to remain viable, which is, by the way, why almost every State has a surplus.

Why? Because revenues did not fall as they were projected to fall. That is true in my State. I think it is true in almost every State.

Why didn't revenues fall? Because we kept people above water.

Now, in this particular program that passed--in many respects with bipartisan support in 2020, December of 2020, as well--there were some 250,000-plus who were eligible under the rules that we drafted and passed but only about 100,000 of them got relief, which means that we left behind 150,000 people who were eligible under the rules that we set.

And now some would say to those that were left behind, You are on your own. That is not what we are going to do today. We are not going to tell them you are on your own. We are going to tell them we understand how important you are to the life of our country, to the economy of our country, to the people of our country.

When we enacted the American Rescue Plan--which I want to make clear did not get any Republican votes--we set aside $28.6 billion in emergency grants to help restaurants and bars that have experienced significant revenue losses due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Those restrictions were necessary, which is why, hopefully, we are coming out of not only the initial assault but the variants' assault.

The aim was to help them stay open to keep their employees on the payroll. I suggest if we had not done that, it wouldn't be independence that they would have experienced, they would have experienced recession and perhaps depression.

That funding quickly ran out, however, with only a third of restaurants that applied for assistance ultimately receiving it.

The legislation before us today would replenish the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund with an additional $42 billion so that the more than 150,000 restaurants still waiting in the cue can finally get the help they need.

Those applicants have been waiting since funding ran out last year. And according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, Mr. Speaker, 86 percent of owners indicated that they may close down if they aren't able to access these grants.

More than 90,000 restaurants and bars already have shut down in this pandemic. Think about the impact of that on neighborhoods, communities, and local economies.

Congress should act and act quickly.

I share the view of the gentleman who spoke before me that we need to make sure that we eliminate fraud, we eliminate abuse, and that we claw back money that was received through fraud. All that does is hurt those who really need it. And what this legislation says is we are going to get back that money that was fraudulently received by individuals and give it to people who legitimately need it and qualify, such as restaurants, gyms, health clubs, salons, music venues, and other places where people hope to congregate but couldn't because of necessary pandemic restrictions.

They will get a lifeline as we all hope to get ``back to normal.'' We all want to be back to normal. But we want to be back to normal with businesses that are still alive, still able to serve the public.

Importantly, that lifeline to keep legitimate small businesses afloat is paid for, as I said, by recapturing funds that were earlier disbursed to fraudulent applicants.

We are going after bad actors and rewarding good actors.

While this is an issue important to so many members of our caucus, I thank Representative Blumenauer for sponsoring this legislation, as well as Representative Phillips for his championing this cause over the past several months.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and the small businesses that it will help and the millions of employees that it will help.

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the Senate has passed, and we have just had read, the passage of H.R. 7108, which is the Suspending Normal Trading Relations with Russia and Belarus Act. That passed 100 to zero in the United States Senate.

We expect at the end of this series of votes for that bill to be on the floor on suspension. So there will be no break. We will continue to that.

Thereafter, we expect the Suspending Energy Imports From Russia Act, which we voted on overwhelmingly, to be sent to us. That is currently 79 to zero in the United States Senate.

We are going to pass both of those bills in this House as soon as we get them, and it is my expectation that will complete the business for this week.

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