House Approves $55 Billion in Covid Aid for Restaurants and Other Hard-Hit Businesses – By Yuval Rosenberg (The Fiscal Times) / April 7, 2022
The House on Thursday approved a $55 billion Covid-19 aid package for restaurants and other businesses still affected by the pandemic, but the legislation has little chance of clearing the Senate.
The bill passed by a vote of 223-203. Just six Republicans joined with 217 Democrats in backing the measure, which would provide $42 billion in aid for restaurants and $13 billion for other hard-hit industries such as gyms and concert venues.
Supporters said that the new money was necessary because the original $28.6 billion Restaurant Relief Fund provided by Democrats as part of their 2021 pandemic bill was depleted after only one-third of applicants had received funds. The program got more than 278,000 applications, for a total of more than $72 billion. More than 170,000 eligible applicants did not get aid.
“We under-appropriated to begin with,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) told Roll Call last week. “So this is about a make-good and not picking winners and losers. And that notion is picking up some steam, recognizing this is not a prospective COVID relief bill. This is a retrospective make-good.”
