Introduction of the Restaurant Revitalization Tax Credit Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the Restaurant Revitalization Tax Credit Act. This legislation creates a tax credit to offset restaurants' payroll tax liabilities and help the industry stay afloat as it rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The restaurant industry was uniquely devastated by the pandemic, at one point accounting for a quarter of all job losses. The pandemic cost restaurants and bars more than $280 billion in sales and left devastating impacts on the entire food supply chain. 90,000 restaurants have permanently closed and hundreds of thousands more have significantly scaled down their operations.

Created in the American Rescue Plan Act, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund provided $28.6 billion for restaurants, bars, food trucks, caterers, tasting rooms, and taprooms to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Within days of opening the Fund, the Small Business Administration received requests for more funding than was available and was forced to close the application portal on May 24, 2021, leaving 177,000 applicants without any aid.

My Restaurant Revitalization Tax Credit Act provides restaurants who applied for, but did not receive, aid with long overdue support. Despite months of steady job growth and families dining out again, restaurants and bars are still under a mountain of debt from years of anemic business in wave after wave of the pandemic. I appreciate the support of my colleague Dean Phillips (MN) on this legislation and I look forward to working with him to provide the support our independent restaurants so desperately need.

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