[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 215 (Friday, December 18, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H7262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RESTAURANTS NEED A LIFELINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Tonko) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, millions of America's restaurants are on the 
edge of financial collapse. If we do not get them a lifeline now, we 
will lose these pillars of community and economic vitality that have 
long stood throughout our Nation. And we will pay an even steeper price 
as millions more Americans lose their jobs and families are left 
stranded with nowhere to turn.
  More than 110,000 of America's restaurants have already closed during 
this very difficult pandemic. Restaurateurs have adapted, have 
reinvented, have dug deep to hold on this long. But more than one-third 
say they won't survive the next 6 months without Federal help. In my 
home State of New York, that figure is closer to more than one-half.
  We can and we must act to save these cherished Main Street 
establishments before it is too late. The House already passed a 
bipartisan bill that gets the job done. With more than 200 bipartisan 
cosponsors, H.R. 7197, the RESTAURANTS Act, would create a $120 billion 
revitalization fund that would rescue America's independent 
restaurants.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to join us in this 
bipartisan effort and pass the RESTAURANTS Act. Our Main Street 
businesses have always delivered for us. Let us make sure that we 
deliver for them now, when they need it so desperately.

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