Courtney Votes to Provide New COVID Relief and Preparedness Funding to Local Restaurants and Small Businesses Left Out from Previous Pandemic Assistance

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) voted to pass the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act (H.R. 3807), a bill that would provide desperately needed relief to tens of thousands of restaurants and small businesses across the U.S. that are still working to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic—including many in eastern Connecticut. Rep. Courtney has met with many local restaurant and small business owners that are still working to offset lost revenue from the pandemic amid challenges during the ongoing recovery, and the relief and preparedness funding included in H.R. 3807 would ensure they have the help they need to keep their doors open, and to remain in business.

"There wasn't an industry hit harder by COVID-19 than our local restaurants, bars, and eateries, and while it's true that the entire world is still dealing with the fallout of the pandemic, these small business owners urgently need assistance if we want them to be around for us in the months and years ahead," said Rep. Courtney. "Local restaurants and small businesses are part of what make our communities unique and worth living in—we've all got a favorite local restaurant, concert hall, or hometown small business, and if you speak with them odds are you'll encounter many that applied for relief funding, counted on it, but were unable to access funding before it was exhausted, leaving eligible eateries shut out from the help for no reason other than bad timing. That's who we're passing this bill for—for our small, local restaurants, live venues, and hometown establishments that were left out last time and still need the help."

The American Rescue Plan Act included $28.6 billion to establish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to provide relief to restaurants and food and beverage businesses devastated by the pandemic. Since then, more than 200 restaurants in eastern Connecticut have been able to utilize over $52 million in RRF funding to meet financial obligations and remain in business. Many other local restaurants, however, applied but were not able to access RRF relief funding before it was exhausted. Nationwide, more than 170,000 eligible businesses applied but were not able to access RRF funding.

The Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act provides a new round of long-awaited funding to the RRF, and establishes new program guidelines to ensure funding goes to the small businesses that need it most. The bill also provides funding to establish the Hard Hit Industries Award Program—an SBA initiative to assist small businesses from across industries that were hit hardest by the pandemic and lost revenue, but who were not eligible for other grants or awards. The bill would also amend the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program to provide even more support to local live venues.

H.R. 3807 is funded in large part by cracking down on bad actors that attempted to defraud prior funding programs including the RRF and SVOG program, the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Impact Disaster Loans, and others.

The bill:

• Provides $42 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), enabling the Small Business Administration (SBA) to process the remaining requests of establishments who were unable to receive RRF funding previously.
• Provides $13 billion to establish the Hard Hit Industries Award Program, which will support small businesses across several different industries that lost revenue due to the pandemic, but were unable to access other grants and awards. Businesses eligible for these grants would have 200 or fewer employees, and have experienced a 40% or greater loss in revenue as a result of the pandemic.
• Amends the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program by expanding the timeframe that current award recipients are required to incur expenses and expend grant funds.
• Is paid for in large 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 like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the SVOG and RRF programs, COVID Economic Impact Disaster Loans, and others.

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