H.R. 3807 Relief For Restaurants & Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act

Monrovia CA

13 April, 2022

4:33 AM

Description

Press release from Monrovia Chamber of Commerce: April 11, 2022 Key Points: Today, the House will consider H.R. 3807, the Relief for Restaurants & Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022. This bill would provide desperately needed relief to tens of thousands of restaurants, food and beverage businesses and other small businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.The American Rescue Plan, signed into law in March 2021, included $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to provide relief to restaurants and food and beverage businesses devastated by the pandemic. The RRF helped more than 100,000 establishments meet their financial obligations, but more than 170,000 eligible applicants were unable to access the RRF after funding ran out. This bill provides $42 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund – allowing the Small Business Administration to process the remaining requests and award much needed grants to establishments still struggling as a result of the pandemic. H.R. 3807 also provides $13 billion to establish the Hard Hit Industries Award Program – an SBA initiative to assist small businesses from across industries that were hardest hit by the pandemic and lost revenue but were not eligible for other grants or awards. Businesses eligible for these grants would have 200 or fewer employees and have experienced 40 percent or more in lost revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill amends the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program by extending the timeframe that current award recipients are required to incur expenses and expend grant funds. This legislation would be funded in part by transferring funds that are reclaimed, seized or returned to the Federal Government, primarily from bad actors attempting to defraud prior small business pandemic relief funds, including the Paycheck Protection Program, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, COVID EIDL loans and others. As the National Restaurant Association wrote in a letter to Congressional Leaders urging the swift passage of H.R. 3807: "We understand that both the House and the Senate may soon consider floor votes on measures to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF). This news cannot come at a more critical time for many in our industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, while the rest of the economy continues to quickly add jobs, restaurant industry job growth in the first quarter of 2022 was the smallest since 2020. On the business side, real sales at restaurants in January were lower than volumes posted in each of the 10 months leading up to the pandemic… With the looming threat of another variant and growing challenges of inflation for both operators and consumers, the economic boost RRF will provide for those 177,000 restaurants would reach far into our communities. This should be the driving factor in bipartisan support for replenishing the RRF. These restaurants fighting for survival cannot go it alone any longer…" This press release was produced by Monrovia Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.