RESTAURANT Act Bill Moves Forward

A new version of the RESTAURANTS Act that will help hundreds of thousands of restaurants is moving forward in Washington DC, and the National Restaurant Association is asking for your help to push it over the edge.

Some quick background: On March 18, 2020, the National Restaurant Association released a Blueprint for Recovery in response to the nationwide shutdown of restaurants just days earlier. The Association called for a number of relief measures, including the creation of a Restaurant Recovery Fund, a federal grant program to minimize the number of inevitable restaurant closures, displaced workers, and cancelled contracts with suppliers.

Working closely with Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) the RESTAURANTS Act of 2021 was just introduced. The bill provides real relief for any small restaurant that can demonstrate they lost revenue in 2020.  Federal grants under the bill can be used for everything from retaining workers to operational expenses like inventory and rent.  A fact sheet on the bill can be found here.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are likely to include the text of this plan in their upcoming COVID relief bill. Look for more details in the days ahead.  In the meantime, the RESTAURANTS Act needs to have as many bipartisan cosponsors as possible to demonstrate the immediate urgency of saving the restaurant industry.

Please take 30 seconds to ask your elected officials in Washington to save restaurants by cosponsoring the RESTAURANTS Act of 2021.  After 11 months, targeted relief is finally in sight.