Senator Murray Votes in Favor of Bipartisan Small Business COVID Relief Act

Senator Murray votes for a bill to send $48 billion to restaurants and other small businesses still recovering from the COVID pandemic.

ICYMI: On Senate Floor, Murray Urges Senate to Pass Restaurant Relief and COVID Relief Funds Together — MORE HERE

Senator Murray: “Many of the restaurants who got left behind when the funds from the American Rescue Plan ran dry are barely scraping by—we cannot leave them behind.”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) voted in favor of S.4008, the Small Business COVID Relief Act of 2022. This bipartisan bill would provide $48 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and provide relief to small businesses in other industries that have experienced significant declines in revenue, including gyms, minor league sports, buses and ferries, among others. The bill failed to overcome a Republican filibuster 52-43 in the Senate.

“For too many restaurant owners, American Rescue Plan relief funds were gone before they were able to get the same relief their neighbor got,” said Senator Murray. “I just don’t think it’s right that a business on one side of the street in Bellingham or Yakima got federal dollars from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, but another mom and pop shop just next door—just as qualified, that also got approved—didn’t get the money because the funds ran dry.”

“Many of the restaurants who got left behind when the funds from the American Rescue Plan ran dry are barely scraping by—we cannot leave them behind,” continued Senator Murray. “Our restaurants are often the heart of our community: making these businesses whole is critical for our economy, but it’s essential to preserving what makes Seattle—Seattle or Spokane—Spokane. I am determined to make this right and I will be exploring every possible option to try and get this bipartisan legislation over the finish line.”

Senator Murray has been a vocal supporter of this bipartisan legislation to provide additional funding to RRF, urging her colleagues to pass this legislation however possible and meeting with local small business owners from across Washington state to bring attention to this issue.

RRF was created in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan and provided a $28.6 billion appropriation to provide eligible restaurants with grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million and no more than $5 million per location. On June 30, 2021, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the closure of RRF due to the exhaustion of funds. SBA also announced that more than 278,000 applications were submitted to the program, but the agency was only able to fund approximately 101,000 of them.

The bipartisan legislation supported by Senator Murray would provide an additional $40 billion to RRF, which is enough to provide all applicants that have not received any assistance with full grants. The measure also includes enhanced auditing requirements for new and existing grants to prevent fraud, as well as new transparency and customer service requirements to ensure that SBA shares information with Congress and the public.

There are other bipartisan small business assistance proposals in the bill, including:  

• Grants for Border Businesses: $1.415 billion for aid to very small businesses located in areas adjacent to land ports of entry that were subject to closure during the pandemic.
• Grants for Exclave Communities: $85 million to small businesses located in communities in Alaska, Washington, and Minnesota who were not accessible from the United States during the pandemic due to border closures, including $75 million for communities in southeastern Alaska that were completely cut off. This portion of the legislation includes provisions led by Senator Murray that would provide badly-needed support for small businesses in Point Roberts.
• Grants for Gyms: $2 billion for aid to gyms that have suffered losses of greater than 25 percent.
• Grants for Minor League Sports Teams: $500 million for aid to minor league sports teams that lost at least 50 percent of their revenue during the first year of the pandemic.
• Grants for Live Venue Service and Support Companies: $2 billion for aid to businesses that support live events that have suffered losses of greater than 25 percent.
• Grants for Buses and Ferries: Provides an additional $2 billion for grant funding to the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) program for buses and ferries, including commuter buses, school buses, charter buses, and passenger ferries.
• Save Our Stages Extension Act: Extends the date by which Shuttered Venue Operator Grant recipients may incur reimbursable expenses.
• PPP Transportation Contractor Fix: Prevents certain government contractors that received PPP loans from being unfairly disqualified from loan forgiveness.
• Offsets: Offsets include $5 billion in unused funds remaining in the Paycheck Protection Program.

Senator Murray has been a longtime champion for Washington state’s restaurants and small businesses, and has pushed for provisions to support business owners through the pandemic. Last year, Murray helped secure provisions from the RESTAURANTS Act, including more than $28 billion to create a Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and other small business relief in federal aid packages, including the American Rescue Plan. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Washington state businesses have received more than $9 billion in federal relief.

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