One-Third of Congress Supports the Restaurants Act of 2020

Written by Aaron Wise
Friday, August 7, 2020 at 09:02pm CDT

A $120 billion bill to support restaurants is advancing through Congress. As of today, the Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed to Survive (R.E.S.T.A.U.R.A.N.T.S.) Act of 2020 has attracted 188 congressional cosponsors.

This week, Independent Restaurant Coalition and DoorDash collaborated to send over 90,000 emails to Congress. The duo also launched a national TV ad that generated hundreds of thousands of views this week alone. Produced by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, Morgan Freeman narrated the commercial.

This week, 10,000 new supporters signed a petition supporting the bill.
Cosponsorship increased by 20 lawmakers this week, lifting support from 31% to 35% of Congress.
A Monday tweet featuring the ad has been retweeted and liked over 1,000 times.
A full summary of the legislation is available as a PDF from Congressman Earl Blumenauer.

Although food and drinking places comprise one-quarter of the pandemic’s job losses, the $659 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) delivered just 8.1% of its funds to food and accommodation businesses.

One in four restaurants will permanently close in the absence of additional fiscal stimulus. Although helpful, the $120 billion Restaurants Act of 2020 will tragically fall short of restaurateurs’ estimated $200 billion shortfall by year’s end, even if it manages to gain Congressional approval.

Originally introduced in June by Senators Roger Wicker, Kyrsten Sinema, Earl Blumenauer, and Brian Fitzpatrick, the Restaurants Act of 2020 has 163 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 25 cosponsors in the Senate.