February 08, 2021

Proposed “Restaurants Act” to bring more relief for businesses


Source: WSILTV

 

(WSIL) -- Restaurants are one of many industries hit hard by COVID-19. U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) is now in support of the bipartisan Restaurants Act that hopes to provide assistance to the industry.

Last week, the senate added an amendment to the budget reconciliation bill, which would ensure that the final Covid-19 relief package includes the Restaurants Act.

The Restaurants Act would create a $120 billion restaurant fund to help restaurants and bars that have been affected by COVID-19.

Senator Duckworth says she has been a long-time advocate for the restaurant industry, hosting town halls with industry leaders and the Illinois Restaurant Association

We spoke with them about their reaction to this latest development.

"Restaurants are the soul of every neighborhood. And we've seen the federal government step up in the past for the airlines, for the banking industry, for the auto industry, so we're very happy to see them step up for the restaurant industry as we are the largest private sector employer here in the state of Illinois and the second largest private sector employer in the country," said Illinois Restaurant Association CEO, Sam Toia.

He says last year we started with nearly 600,000 restaurants in the state and its estimated we could lose 20% of those, which is about 5,000 restaurants in the economic slowdown.

We've been keeping up with Mary Lou's and their challenges with staying open. The owners have also been transparent about federal aid they've recived to stay afloat.

I talked to them about this new relief money to get their take on how they feel about it.

"We're very appreciative and thankful for any--all this funding that we have been able to get. But I think at some point, it's more about us all being able to open up our restaurants and our businesses, you know, 100% or whatever safely," said

The Illinois Restaurant Association estimates the state will lose 120,000 restaurant jobs due to the pandemic.

The grant program would be run by the U.S. Treasury, and funds would cover costs such as payroll, rent, supplies and PPE.


By:  Maya Skinner