[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 18, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Restaurants

  Mr. President, on a different matter--the restaurants bill--tomorrow, 
the Senate is going to hold a vote on legislation to help our 
restaurants, gyms, minor league teams, and other small businesses that 
have been utterly devastated by the COVID pandemic.
  This bill, championed by my colleagues Senator Cardin, a Democrat, 
and Senator Wicker, a Republican--which I very strongly support--will 
help restaurants and other small businesses like gyms that were left 
out in earlier rounds of emergency aid. Every proposal included in this 
package is bipartisan.
  Some have said: Well, COVID is over, and the restaurants are back. I 
see them sort of full.
  That may be true for some restaurants, but for just about every 
restaurant, there is a shortage of labor, and many are only opening at 
limited times. Most of the restaurants I speak to are either closed 
certain days, don't serve lunches, or whatever, because they can't find 
labor.
  Let's not forget that many of the restaurants, particularly the 
smaller ones, the nonchain ones, had to borrow during COVID, borrow 
large amounts of money. They need to repay that money, and they can't 
do it based on their limited incomes that are occurring right now. If 
they don't get the money to pay it back, the lenders are going to 
foreclose and close restaurants that are already back on the road to 
prospering and recovering. That makes no sense.
  We must pass this legislation. I hope we will get a good number of 
our Republican colleagues to join Senator Wicker in supporting this. 
Two years into this crisis, the idea that restaurant owners have all 
recovered could not be further from the truth.
  Restaurants are part of the fabric of every Main Street and every 
tight-knit neighborhood. It is where friends run into each other on the 
weekends, grab a drink after work, have lunch after church. The same 
can be applied to minor league teams and local gyms and businesses that 
support theaters. These are places where Americans have always come 
together.

  I was proud to champion the $28 billion restaurant relief in the 
American Rescue Plan, but these establishments, as I mentioned, still 
need our help. Tomorrow, there should be a strong bipartisan show of 
support to help these businesses.