A Message from the IRC:
Here’s what happened April 21st at the intersection of restaurants and politics:
You might have seen news coverage of a bipartisan agreement that was announced and approved by the Senate. The bill, being dubbed CARES 3.5, includes an additional $320 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and $60 billion for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). It did not include any policy changes to the PPP, which means America’s 500,000 independent restaurants still don’t have the relief we need, and our fight continues.
While this is not the news we’d hoped for, this doesn’t mean progress hasn’t been made. Members of our coalition have been meeting with House and Senate leadership, who have been incredibly supportive of our proposed fixes to the PPP. We remain hopeful that the PPP will be adjusted to reflect the changes we’ve advocated for — either through additional guidance on this bill or in the next round of legislation. Your work has helped make this happen.
Advocacy for the next phase of legislation will begin immediately. In addition to the PPP fixes we are continuing to push, we’re also putting the final touches on additional requests, including a more robust restaurant stabilization fund.
Fighting for change is always tough — especially when you are a brand-new organization that didn’t exist five weeks ago, trying to influence some of the largest and most important legislation in U.S. history. We have come a long way in a short time, and while it’s urgently important that we make an even bigger impact on the next piece of legislation, we hope no one feels discouraged tonight. We hope you feel proud of what we’ve accomplished, and determined to work even harder to accomplish even more in the coming weeks.
Thank you all for your continued commitment to this movement — it’s making a difference and we’re going to get through this together.
The IRC Team
