[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WE CANNOT LEAVE WORKERS BEHIND

  (Ms. TLAIB asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  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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