impact covid-19 has had on the inter-team industry. that getting underway now. >> entertainment event industry, the subcommittee will come to order. it was covered on manufacturing, covid-19 continues to negatively impact many industries and businesses throughout the american economy and another industry, among the hardest hit, is live entertainment sector. transmissionne many states have infant demented -- implemented bands on large gatherings of people. this section requires large gatherings for plays, movies, events, and many other forms of entertainment. companies have been forced to largely cease operations during the pandemic, leaving these businesses without revenue or alternative means to replace it. without crowds to perform for entertainers, vendors have been forced to furlough staff they typically employed during a concert season. without stages to light and set up, leading companies and stagehands have been out of work since march. without entertainers and goers to go -- transfer companies have been off the road for months. othert concerts and operators, owners have been without revenue much of the past year. these are a few examples the way the live entertainment industry sector has been affected. we will hear more about that from our rightnes witnesses. in march, the cares act was passed. small business administration's, paycheck protection program provided funds to pay employees and cover some business expenses. other programs meant to help employers and employees are the main street lending program and economic administration's grants. for many businesses these programs were ineffective tools. but these programs in the cares act did not adequately benefit the live event entertainment sector. that is why i and many colleagues introduced and sponsored this act that would authorize the small business administration to make grants eligible to live operators, producers, promoters, and talent representatives. this would offer the struggling business is a lifeline to continue operations until they can return to doing what they love, entertaining americans. there are a number of other proposals including the restart act which worked to address the needs of the live event sector. i encourage my colleagues to ensure this industry supported in the ongoing negotiations around a phase 4 covid relief package. there is a ripple effect on the economy when live entertainment is out of work. restaurants, bars, and bringing people from the sunny community is hurting. in that community is also dark. i look forward to hearing from our witness panel today who will provide a variety of different expec perspectives. fromng us is david fay, the performing arts center in hartford, connecticut. from wichita, kansas. lafeete for patriot management in los angeles. michael strickland, owner of the lines in knoxville, tennessee. provided written testimony for the record. how recommendations for congress should act to address these issues, i would ask these be submitted into the record. without objection, so ordered. i will turn to the ranking member who will join us in about five minutes. i understand the chairman would also like to have opening statements. senator wicker. >> thank you very much. i appreciate your leadership on this issue. the senate commerce committee has taken many opportunities to examine the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the lapse in our economy. in our various subcommittees we have heard on the unique hardships faced by thousands of middle-class, hard-working americans in the manufacturing industry, the transportation sector, and consumers who most vulnerable to scams. today we will hear from representatives of the live entertainment industry. a sector that has been hit particularly hard. because the coronavirus spread so easily among large crowds and confined spaces, americans had to give up attending live performances such as concerts and theater productions. this shutdown has been devastating for performing artists and the venues that host their shows. but a lot of the industry also supports an entire ecosystem of businesses including lighting technicians, food vendors, , andportation providers many more average american workers. live events are part of the fabric of american life. it encourages people to travel cross the country and join together to experience the great performances. particular, it is a great importance to me. the state of mississippi is known around the world as the birthplace of america's music. before the pandemic began i was 1 fortunate to see garth brooks perform when he was honored with the gershwin prize. no doubt garth brooks and other stars have been financially successful enough to weather the economic shutdown caused by the pandemic. that is not the point of this hearing today. our concern today is about the average men and women behind the buses, food trucks, tour who support their families by bringing experiences to so many. it is my sincere hope that when i see a performance like the one i saw with garth brooks again, the thousands and thousands of hard-working americans to make up the live entertainment industry will have received the support they need to stay in business. thank you very much, chairman moran. this is an import hearing and i look forward to hearing from the witnesses. >> thank you for joining us. it is through your encouragement heare able to this issue. let me begin with our testimony. we will start with mr. fay, then mr. harkey, followed by mr. lafitte, then mr. strickland. fay.ognize mr. david >> chairman, thank you. blumenthal i'm sure will be there momentarily. wait until hed we arrives and go to the next witness if you'd like him to be here in just about? >> that is up to you. i have talked about this many times. thank you. president of the center for performing arts in hartford, connecticut. i feel like i am in a pandemic induced time warp. i downtown, like so many, has become a ghost town, all too similar to those of the 1960's and 1970's of explosive growth. bringrd work to these back -- building new performance art centers to track people back to downtown. this development of restaurants, bars, clubs, and others have led to residential and commercial development all of which has brought new economic strength and restored civic pride. it has also led to the creation of an unprecedented touring circuit, supporting tens of thousands of performing artists, entertainers, and shows. an industry that was once and a few major cities is no systemic part of the uniquely american artistic mosaic that stretches literally from sea to sea. this vibrant industry has provided an essential economic and cultural anchor for communities all across our country. that is until march when the music stopped. today we face an existential threat. a threat not only to our industry, but to the businesses and city centers large and small that come to depend on us. the cares act was a step, but scaled to cover a shorter time than our industry continues to face. we simply cannot reopen our venues and restart our industry until the virus is subdued. unfortunately, that does not appear likely until next fall of the earliest. our industry is built on venues. the smallest club where new talent is discovered to the playhouses in regional theaters were local directors, actors, designers, stagehands, musicians, and more learn and develop their craft. to the broadway theaters and producers who look at those venues and look to them for new talent and define half of all the new shows they open each year. it is also built performing arts centers. we are part of the delicately balanced live entertainment ecosystem. we depend on it to develop extraordinarily talented shows the grace our stages, inspiring audiences, and uplifting the spirit of our communities. ecosystemur help this is in grave danger of collapsing and taking with it the pulse of our city centers. this is also about the heart and soul of our country. even after the virus is gone we face a long road of healing and recovery. the irish playwright sean o'casey once said, "all the world is a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed." we live in a time when emotional intelligence is being stripped by artificial intelligence. we look to alexa for information and social media for personal validation. rather than pausing to look at ourselves and reflect on what it means to walk in someone else's shoes. music and theater are the lens through which we see ourselves, our society, and our world. it is an avenue to explore the miracle that is the declaration revel and thee, repercussions of slavery, and tried to make sense out of the often confusing evolution of our great american society. it has been said that everyone dies twice -- once when we stopped breathing and then again when our name is spoken for the last time. ensure that help to our venues and industry will survive this pandemic so that the voices of our great american creative community will have a platform from which to sing to us, to challenge and inspire us to be our best selves. so that when our names are spoken for the last time it will be to honor the contribution we made to our neighbor, our country, and our world. thank you. >> mr. fay, thank you. very well spoken. in my basement on the weekends, the smithsonian channel has been doing aerial america focused on hartford. assuming i can get your senator to invite me to hartford, i would be glad to come see one of your performances as soon as that is possible. >> you are invited, mr. chairman. [laughter] mr. fayor blumenthal, was our first witness. would you like to follow him? >> i would be delighted. first, thank you to david fay, a hero of many of us who revere connecticut's stages and venues and thank you to you, mr. chairman, for convening this hearing. senator klobuchar has been cosponsored of the save our stages act. she has been on so many efforts to aid small businesses. i want to thank all of the participants who are here today on this critically important legislation. our cultural institutions are the lifeblood of our democracy. they distinguish us as a democracy, as a country, they are examples of agricultural heritage and treasure. we ignore their need in our grave peril. i am glad to have heard mr. fay's very eloquent and powerful remarks and i am going to take the transcript with me all around connecticut and to my colleagues. over the past month i have heard from theaters and stages across connecticut as well as the country who are facing life-and-death decisions and struggling to keep the lights on. in september, i visited the palace theater. theater that has normally, at this time, hosting "the nutcracker." now it is broadcast online. in fairfield, the fairfield theater company turned initially to live stream shows. they recently reopened for the first time since march, but with barriers between the stage and the audience. literally, physical barriers that severely reduce capacity to accommodate distancing. limited performance is not sustainable. nowave been to the bush , thetution, the warner wharfrt, as well as long in haven and i have seen for myself the limits that have been applied. i think we need, for the sake of the employees of these great institutions, for the sake of institutions that depend on them, whether they are small businesses like retailers or restaurants depending on people coming downtown, they are great sources of economic as well asetus cultural heritage. i am proud to be a cosponsor of the save our stages act which is been introduced by senator klobuchar. this legislation would authorize grants to theaters to help cover costs, and operate including personal protective equipment as well as the restart act which is so important to small businesses. we are approaching a critical point must save our stages and small businesses that are hanging by a thread. for the sake of the businesses in proximity that depend on them. whether they are places to eat or venues to shop for the sake of the employees that work there as well as stagehands and letting assistance, for the sake of our cultural heritage and the great treasures of enjoying it. for the sake of our families that come there to be together and friends and neighbors who regard them as social centers as well as artistic gems. we should pass this measure and i am very grateful to all of our witnesses today for providing the intellectual ammunition that we will need to convince our inleagues to include this the compromise rescue package now under negotiation. it is in that package now and hopefully will remain. mr. chairman, thank you for bringing us together. >> senator blume a call thank you very much. next will be adam harkey, owner of the cotillion in wichita, kansas. fellow kansan, welcome to the hearing and i look forward to your testimony. >> thank you. good morning, chairman grou moran and ranking number. we are here because we urgently need help. my wife and i are small business people. to -- on a committee of promoters. my early aspirations came from stories of my grandparents working shows at the cotillion in the 1960's. my grandfather managed the facility at my grandmother work the box office. after university i took a job as a stagehand. i could not afford a car so i caught rides with the business agent that always make sure i get to work. in the following decade i became the promotions director and later operations director and producer of riverfest. i shared a common experience with my father who set up the infrastructure of the first in 1960. in 20 became co-owner of the cotillion were my grandparents worked 60 years ago. my mother still has memories of a babysitting her for younger siblings on nights grandparents work shows. becoming the co-owner was the realization of not only my dream, but the realization of the dreams of numerous generations of those within my family. in 2018, i realized another dream. to design and build a large outdoor venue. this idea started with a drawing on graphics in the next year the wave was opened with me and my wife at the helm. in 2019 business blossomed. we put more business through the cotillion and it became a favorite destination for concertgoers. visitors from all 50 states. we were projecting 2020 to be the best year on record. and preparation, we made large capital investments of both venues. the beginning of 2020 should increase revenue and then march 13 came, in response to the pandemic, businesses were mandated closed. operations ceased. we scrambled under the impact on the community and industry. our employees are family. wey of whom i worked with bleed together, sweat together, smiled together, cried together. they were our first concern. plan.ckly created a .e assessed hard cost we received ppp assistance and the funds were used as stipulated with 75% going to payroll. these ran out in june and since then most employees have been furloughed or laid off. withpp was not sufficient 100% of core bills 95% revenue loss and shuttered for 18 months. we were able to pay eight weeks of payroll and a couple months of bills. the amount wasn't sufficient and within three months funds were depleted. this is a debt we have to pay off for the next 30 years. without help we could lose our homes, our children would not be provided for, in everything we work for will vanish. 90% of mom-and-pop venues will go under without assistance. these are the same venues the 2019 studies showed generated $12 of economic activity for every dollar spent at an activity. we rely on the natural reopening before we can resume operations as artists headed to her across the country. we have no inventory. sent artists recently letter to congress with 600 signatures. today we have had more than 2.1 million emails sent to congress from our fans, pleading to save our stages. we are asking congress to pass the save our stages act and an extension as part of the next covid release bill. this is what will save us. time is of the essence. after nine months venues are going under a quickening phase. we need help now. december 7 of 2020, the cotillion celebrated its 60th year. fear isest theater -- that we will have to close our doors forever and the institutions for which we have sacrificed so much will be destroyed. we are sitting before you pleading with congress to help those like us. please do not let the music died. save our stages so our small family business can thrive in my seven-year-old son can take over and the music will be passed on for generations to come. limits all,ator senator klobuchar, senator moran, and others for their support. thank you. >> mr. harkey, thank you for your compelling testimony. i hope that your son is able to carry on the family business. we turn to our third witness mr. braun the feet. president a patriot management in california. mr. lafitte. >> mr. chairman and ranking member, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today for this hearing on the impact covid-19 has had on the live internet industry. i'm the president of patriot management a management company-owned by live nation. they represent over 45 artists, producers, songwriters including one republic, the bastrop boys, pharrell williams, and usher. i've been part of the music industries in size 14. i started helping local bands by selling t-shirts and making flyers. fortunately for me one of those was metallica. i was able to turn that opportunity into a career. instead of going to college, i went on tour. that was my education. since then i have had the privilege of managing many fans, running a record company, and coming back to doing what i love the most, represented the artists as their manager. before any of this i was a music fan and still in. from the beginning you could always find me in front of the stage somewhere as an obsessed fan. that obsession has become my life. most of my closest friends are people i have grown up with in the scene. people i met on the road, those who promote the shows, those who work in the venues, and those who manage and staff the tours. my story is not unique. a concert is more than an opportunity to just listen to music, it is a shared experience that creates and requires a community. there are many aspects of the covid-19 pandemic that make it an unparalleled tragedy. lives lost, jobs destroyed, and the social isolation. our industry has been deeply and profoundly affected by this crisis. the pandemic has affected the ecosystem for concerts and all other live events and brought them to a screeching halt. this ecosystem starts with the artists creating music and bedrooms or garages with the dream of performing in front of a live audience. artists are feeling the pain of this pandemic personally and professionally. but miss performing live, also feel responsible for the thousands that helped make these happen. as you all know the live entertainment industry in the united states is massive, with thousands of people who make each tour and concert possible, including crews, venue personnel, and staff. when you consider the economic impact of the live entertainment ecosystem goes far beyond these professions. it impacts many local and regional economies. that includes hotels were performers, crews, and fans a stay, the restaurants where they eat, in the transportation we used to attend events. when the pandemic struck in the united states live entertainment jobs disappeared overnight. jobs that will not return until we conquer this virus. everyone employed in this industry is hurting whether they are from small towns or bigger cities, whether they work in independent venues like the ones i talked about or bigger arenas. no venue has been immune from the impact of this crisis. it is critical that congress include comprehensive relief for the entertainment industry in the next covid-19 legislative package. we were one of the first industries to bear the brunt of this pandemic and we will likely be one of the last to get back to normal. this relief should help every venue and every professional working in the live entertainment space until this crisis ends. the pandemic's economic impact is staggering. 95% of all events in 2020 have either been canceled or postponed with 77% of workers having lost 100% of their income . in addition, 97% of contract workers, backup bands, sound mixers, leading companies, everyone has been out of work. unlike restaurants are airlines that can operate a reduced liveity, liver t entertainment is an all or nothing proposition. there are two specific ways congress can help. first, all workers are hurting regardless of their employer. and he really for our industry should focus on the employees and the contractors. payrollould be used for and made available to any venues less than 5000. save our stages is a great start but we can do so much more. all venue employees need your help. second, congress needs to extend the retention tax credit. with these credits workers still employed could maintain employment until shows return and furloughed employees can receive their employee sponsored health care. thank you for this opportunity to testify. i appreciate this subcommittee for drawing attention to the plight the live entertainment business has, especially our workers. i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you very much. announcertuso. >> mr. chairman, ranking member, thank you for giving us the opportunity to testify. our message is unique. we represent bus companies that bring entertainers and bring fans to the venues and events. there are three key points i would like to make today. first, the entertainer entertair motorcoach industry is in dire shape. they need a lifeline. ofhout 1, 40 percent to 50% the industry could be out of business by 2021. the industry is an essential part of america's transportation network. it is very capital-intensive with fixed costs and has a very specialized workforce. the emergency coronavirus relief act of 2020, which includes the act that many in this committee sponsored or is in support of, is critical to our survival. represent members private, mostly small businesses, including the entertainer motorcoach operators. they also support the travel and tourism industry across the country. they provide nearly 600 million passenger trips annually, on par with u.s. commercial airlines. 3000 u.s. motorcoach companies employ individuals in generate $15 billion in revenue. they also support 2 million additional jobs across the 200 million create dollars -- $200 billion in economic activity. today the industry is operating at about 10% of 2019 levels. 85,000 of our workers are unemployed, and the path to recovery is another 12 to 24 months away. without any direct financial support, up to 50% of these businesses could close forever, meaning their employees will be out of work permanently. the live entertainer performances conclude -- include advanced preparation and postevent activities and motor coaches play a critical role at every juncture. the entertainer motorcoach vehicles are built to serve an essential and unique transportation need of entertainers, celebrities and their crews, but they also serve politicians, media and other specialized customers. these vehicles carry people and equipment for ground-based tours. they are designed to include sleeping, eating and culinary support facilities. they gets liberties to the event and serve as a support vehicle on site, and then get them to the next event. atorcoach companies also play role in the entertainment industry by bringing fans to the events and venues. all motorcoach companies are a vital component of this nation's transportation network. they provide intercity schedule bus, commuter services, school transportation, charters and entertainment services. the industry also serves the country in times of crisis, bring people out of harms way during hurricanes and wildfires, and moving the military and their equipment training and appointment. -- and deployment. fema and state emergency management services hired transferred -- entertainment motor coaches during evacuations in hurricane relief efforts in the gulf region. covid is also having a major impact on the downstream suppliers and manufacturing. in previous years, up to 1500 new motor coaches, valued at over $500,000 each were sold in the u.s.. now production and sales of new motor coaches to the private sector have all but stopped. the impact of hundreds of good paying manufacturing jobs and thousands of workers who supply engines and tires, electronics and other components are affected. this impact will last three years. on top of this, the value of motor coaches has dropped by as much as 50%, making it impossible to sell used coaches or trade the men, say really limiting the abilities of motorcoach operators and owners to borrow money to keep their businesses afloat. in conclusion, we appreciate your leadership in identifying the entertaining -- the entertainer motorcoach sector and the entire industry, since it has been overlooked for a long time and is a critical element of our nation's transportation network. we urge you and your colleagues to pass the emergency coronavirus relief act of 2020, which includes a provision when it comes before congress this week. thank you very much. >> area. -- there we go. i would like to thank chairman wicker and senator blumenthal, and all thekburn, distinguished members of this committee for all you have done and will do. i am michael strickland, founder and chairman of bandit lights. we are entertainment lighting ofpany, garth brooks is one my best friends and biggest customers. garth brooks and jimmy buffett and alice cooper and carrie underwood and the nfl and nascar, these people i kind -- i count as my clients. catering people, rodeos, fairs, we are like a band of gypsies, we have no lobby and we have no pacs. we have no representation on the hill. that is why i am here today. if you remember nothing today, remember the word spurs. s, shut. we have been shut since march 13. we will not be open until june or july at the earliest. 97% of our industry is sitting dead in the water. we are 870's -- we are and $877 billion industry. there are 10 plus million people employed, as you have eloquently stated, across all the different branches of this industry. p, ppp, thank you very much for the ppp you gave us in april. it ran out in june and the virus is still with us. that money is long gone. i urge you that whatever you pass, you pass another round of ppp. that will allow all the people in the live event industry to get through january and february. that is crucial because hopefully in january and february, we can affect fraud relief. u, unemployment. i urge you to continue all the pandemic economic relief actions you put forth in the wonderful cares package back in april. that was a stunning decision. i applaud you for what you did. please continue those, at least through june to allow those people that are negatively impacted and need those pandemic relief funds made available to them. restart, the only vehicle i have identified that holistically allows anyone that has been devastated to survive. in the case of our industry, our industry is at zero. in order to get a main street lending loan, or to get a commercial loan, you have to go before a lending institution and you have to have three things. a strong balance sheet, a strong profits left -- a strong profit/loss statement and -- we have none of the above. sitting $595 billion unused. certainly in the future, we could repurpose some amount of that to get that money to the people in the crushed small businesses. i've spoken to senator young, who wrote it and we realize the need to be retooled. in avenue wasn phenomenal. a year later, it is not so significant. i would urge you to retool the amount of revenue loss, which narrowed the bill, and allow it to function within a bigger bill. the last part of this whole thing is s, save our stages. job.laud you, a wonderful on omaha beach, you so graciously gave us save our stages. we have to go up and home to paris. how do we get there? restart, the only vehicle. save our stages is a great first step. i urge you to pass it as soon as possible. we must go to the next step, and we must have something like restart, that will give us some amount of our income, 45%, which is what is in restart, and it will convert to a seven year loan that will allow us a path to recovery. we have no lobby, we have no pac. to quote jackson browne, we are running on empty. there are lives in the balance. i urge you to assist small business in general, public events in particular, and pass restart and these other wonderful bills. imagine a world with no art or culture. that is a world with no live events. a bandit lights, we coined word years ago called humanomics. thease our decisions on human effect first, and the business affect second. thank you. >> mr. strickland, thank you very much. in -- even in the absence of lobbyists, you have performed admirably. let me see if i can take a theme i am interested in pursuing, that resonated throughout all the testimonies. the inability of the paycheck protection program to solve the problem. say it did hartke not work in circumstances where there was virtually no revenue, and it was too short term in its duration. mr. strickland, you talked about the paycheck protection program, and asked that it be reauthorized. i would ask all of our witnesses to tell me what has been missing in the paycheck protection program to meet your needs. does a separate program need to be addressed, enacted? what is it that the paycheck protection program can do, that we can make it work better for all of your circumstances? >> that is a great question. the paycheck protection program, when it was initiated, it seemed like that would be the answer because we all believed we would be back to work in june. the fact that it was only 10 weeks of income, in retrospect was far too little. by the time we get back to week -- by the time we get back to work, it will be 74 weeks. issue would be the longevity of it. in a perfect world, this friday you would pass a payroll protection plan that provided 36 to 48 weeks of ppp. i think that is a stretch, but just the shortness of it. even now, if you passed an additional round of ppp this friday, that is 10 weeks. the last two weeks in december, january and february. we are not going to be back until the vaccine takes hold and we have heard immunity and that is june, august and september. ergo, restart. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the ppp program had great intentions, and we appreciate that. we have a very valued and skilled workforce. we want to bring the back. the reality is that we have no business. we had people come back, they merely sat and collected the ppp money and then left again, going back on unemployment. all it really did was transfer unemployment to a private individual using federal dollars. our business is gone. 10% of the business is operating across the board. there will be no recovery for at least another 12 months. until that time, there won't be an opportunity for people to come back and drive buses for the most part. we need to keep the industry alive so we can be a vibrant part of the transportation network. to do that, we need to help companies stay alive, whether we are covering next costs or capital costs or interest they are paying. >> any other witnesses that wish to address that question? >> thank you, chairman grant. moran.rman nine months for no and -- for no work for our employees to do. many businesses across the country are completely out of funds. the amount of ppp, and the restrictions placed upon it won't save our industry, it won't save the venues. there are people who will go completely out of business. the save our stages act is targeted toward our industry specifically, and that is what is going to get us through this. >> let me ask a follow-up question, mr. hartke. the paycheck protection program, i think you highlight, does not work well when there is little or no income. what about the restrictions on audiences, the size, the distancing, the percentage of capacity? is it possible for the entertainment industry to operate at a smaller volume, fewer people in the audience, and still earn a living? >> there are a couple things with that. right now, no, because there are no tours. we rely on a national reopening to get back to work. in kansas we booked has to go through dallas or kansas city, and have those connected across the country in order to get here. we have no inventory, no artists touring right now. about that, we operate at 78% capacity for ticket sales. if we are opening at 30% or 40% capacity, we are losing money immediately. we opened in june briefly. we lost more money being open then we did -- than we did in hibernation. at the end of this, we are going to have to open at reduced capacity, but hopefully there is a better understanding of this virus, the restrictions are not growing as right now. with a three to six month lead time it takes to book a touring act and promote it, there is no way to do that right now. we are pretty stuck. >> that unfortunately makes sense to me. senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to yield part of my soe to senator klobuchar, she can have the opportunity to make some opening remarks. she is a leader of this effort, and i will save my questions to the end, or after the next witness. >> just embrace everything you guys have said in such wonderful worlds -- wonderful words. you can see the creativity. the state of tennessee coming through, and i am more than happy to have led this band of gypsies in your words, so that we can get something done. one of the things we have learned from this pandemic is it is not one-size-fits-all, not every business and every group of employees are affected in the same way. i know the home state of jefferson bus line, minnesota, knows that. seeing people start to cry and an event at the morehead, as they talked about the moral concert or see it in the face of dana frank as we stood in front of that iconic star of prince, knowing that he and so many other artists across this country could not have gotten their start without entertainment venues. that youe all know can't go stand in a mosh pit in the middle of a pandemic. i think you know you can't sit elbow to elbow in a small theater, whether it is in a big city or a little town. so many of these venues are literally the heart of our communities. they are the place people go. since we are quoting a lot of things, we do not want to be the congress that lets the music die. we don't want this to be the year that we let our cultural icons die. with that, senator cornyn and i introduced this bill. we are working hard to get in the relief package and we are feeling good about the work going on. there still has to be some changes made. i'm also a big fan and cosponsor of the restart act that you just spoke to, as well as the certs act involving the bus line. i just want to remind our colleagues, and i know they know this, thank to chairman moran and ranking member blumenthal, if it wasn't for that understanding, that not every industry -- tech companies are doing great, but so many of these small venues are not. hartke,ion of you, mr. with your cool drum set over just couldchita, is you explain how it would be hard to bring back these venues? you cannot snap a finger and they will be able to come back. adam: many of our venues have taken generations to build. especially in smaller markets like wichita, this is an ongoing effort to pass on from generation to generation, to get acts to come to kansas is the work of many decades of people. not only that, but to get the spaces that are appropriate for hosting music. you mentioned 1st avenue, that is a magical place. there is not a notice -- there is not another space like that in the world. if you lose 1st avenue, it is nearly impossible to replicate that. true -- we can tell you in wichita and in tulsa. all of these venues across the country that have been there, even if they are not historic, the new ones that have a certain thing to it. klobuchar: could you talk about how it was hard enough for your venues being independent venues, so many of you competing as we see more and more consolidation with some of the big guys in the industry, and how -- to me, the pandemic has put a magnifying glass on this problem. we are not going to talk about antitrust but good to talk about how it is hard to get by right now, anyway? industry isve music increasingly difficult, due to the consolidation of the industry. our businesses are fighting tooth and nail to still get is hittingit secondary markets just as hard as the major markets. sen. klobuchar: i think i will end with you, mr. strickland. just words for us as we go into these next few days, when everyone is waiting for results from this congress to be able to do a package at the end of the year. any advice? michael: consider the humanomics. 10 plus million people across this entire industry doing nothing. we are not like restaurants or gymnasiums or hair salons that open and close and have a chance to do something. we are doing nothing right now, 97% of the people are either unemployed or underemployed. can you imagine being a dental assistant and not being a dental assistant for 18 months and having to go work at home depot? that is what has happened. you have a lot of really talented people, and they are in the live industry for one reason, for a love of the game, and love the music. -- a love of the music. we've got entertainment people scattered across the industry at home depot and as an industry, we will not come back if we don't receive relief, because the restart relief is all we can get. we cannot get a commercial loan. sen. klobuchar: you very much -- thank you very much. the wichita line -- keeping these folks in business is important. i want to keep up with you and your lyrics. senator blackburn. sen. blackburn: there is a neat story about how that song was written and how it came to be, in wichita. in nashville, we say everything begins with a song. indeed it does, and to our witnesses today, i want to thank you for being available. to chairman moran and wicker, thank you for working with me and my team so we can have this. the live entertainment industry is vitally important to us in tennessee. it is a complete sector of our state's economy. it is not just an ad on. it is not something that is just there for the fun of it. and ithe music business, appreciate what senator klobuchar has done with save our stages. she and senator schumer and senator blumenthal. that is the front facing part of the industry. that is what you see when the curtains open. that is what you see in the videos on stage. these venues, that is great. we want these venues to thrive. however, in order to make those shows appealing and exciting, and to keep these venues open, there is an entire behind the curtain that takes place, and full disclosure, in the mid-90's, i led the tennessee film entertainment and music commission. that is when i got to know many of the folks who drive the buses and the motor coaches. it is when i got to know the caterers and those grips and when i got to know mr. strickland, and appreciate what band lights does. -- bandit lights does. but this sector of the industry does not benefit from what will be passed in save our stages. to my colleagues on the other end of the dais, this is why we need you to work with us, so that the support system that makes those venues work is able to stay live. so that they are able to participate, because right now, i have a lot of friends and neighbors in nashville, that checkasically go out and the catering equipment, they go through and check the equipment that is sitting in the warehouses, waiting for the lights to go back on, on the stages, so they can gear back up. right now, there is no avenue for them. they did nothing wrong, and i think this is an important thing to realize. these folks that support live entertainment did nothing wrong. they did not cause this. but when the pandemic hit, when the economy got shut down, they went from running wide open to a dead stop, overnight. that was it. i talked to people who were on tour buses and they turned the tour buses around on the interstate, and headed back to nashville. they didn't go to the next stop. equipment and they sent it back to knoxville. realize theynt to don't have another source, and yes save our stages is good, but you've got to have something to stave -- to save the stage with, and it is the support network. i'm running out of time. we are so determined to help with this industry. mr. strickland and mr. harkey -- mr. mr. hartke, let me come to you with my question. talk to me about what the next six months is going to look like how you industry and think you are going to be able to recover. mr. strickland, you first. michael: thank you, senator blackburn. i have a degree in business from the tennessee college of business and even working in college of business did not teach me how to run a business for 18 months with no money. to answer your question and the biggest point here, the industry not almost out of money, we've been out of money. 30% of our industry is gone now. if nothing is done by february, 60% of our industry will be gone , 60% of the people will be unemployed or doing something else. we simply have no alternative. if the federal government does not step up with restart style relief, small business in general, for the live event space in particular, we simply have no alternative, and companies will be shuttered. sen. blackburn: mr. hartke? adam: we won't last six months. we won't be here for recovery. it is as simple as that. with a relief bill, we can get back to work and hire staff back and start planning for reopening , but without it, we won't be here. sen. blackburn: thank you. thank you senator blackburn for your leadership on this matter. senator blumenthal. sen. blumenthal: i really appreciate your being here. the transportation and motorcoach industry is often overlooked in its importance to our economy. i recently visited the company in new britain, connecticut, a andly-run motorcoach school -- and school bus operator, third generation, and it is vital to our economy, as is the companies that you have reflected in your remarks. i am so glad you are here. a question,r. fay because i think that mr. fay, you have brilliantly outlined the echo system that is at stake here. senator blackburn referred to apartments, but it is also the small clubs, the sources of the talent that eventually reach the bushnell and broadway. it is also the restaurants that are providing service to patrons of the bushnell, when they go there. it will show the lion king andcal, a political debate, also run innovative community-based programming, bringing art and literacy to countless inner-city children. what i would like to know from number one examples, of those smaller institutions that depend on the bushnell and theaters and venues like it, and also the timeline that is acessary for you to have production on your stage. you can't just snap a finger and have it open -- and have it overnight. it takes difficult planning, and if you could speak to that, that issue and the smaller parts of that ecosystem that depend on you. david: that is a great question. thet of all, let me address second one first. it has been pointed out that getting started and restarting this business is going to take the entire country opening up and being able to open to full capacity. dove explored the ability to smaller performances, but they just don't work. one of the biggest problems with that is our public is frightened, and until the vaccine is out, and really takes effect, even after that, it is going to take months for our public to decide that it is safe for them to come back. this issix months of absolutely something we are facing. to come out of that, it is going to take many months, probably two or three years for us to really come out of it. to open isposition critical. smallallenge of the businesses around us that we participate with and work with all the time is very real. there are six or seven major restaurants that have closed in downtown hartford. as a result of all the work from home and digital working, there is a real concern that on the one hand, businesses will never repopulate the downtown area, with as many employees when work from home was going to probably become part of our economic process and businesses of the future. as a result, fewer feet hitting the street. there going to be one of major features trying to bring people back to the downtown area in the evening, as we were back in the 1970's and 1980's. is frighteningit for our own mayor who has expressed concern that we be alive and open as soon as possible to bring people back downtown. you mentioned how our venue and others do more than just concerts. there were all kinds of events. the local hospital raises hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. the smaller clubs, the infinity hall, 450 seats. a beautiful space. they are doing tremendous business and all of a sudden, after six months, it shut down. it all works together. there is an ecosystem in a delicate balance, and every person who has testified today presents a significant part of that ecosystem. if any parts of it -- if any part of it falls apart, the whole thing crumbles. rebuild be decades to if we don't get this help now. sen. blumenthal: thank you, mr. fay. i want to thank all of the venue operators. i have been to that health care benefit on the regular, and i've in theen to the bushnell last couple of months, when it has been empty, and there is nothing so heartbreaking and got theater, as an empty as a venue like yours that is so full of life and laughter and the kinds of performances that really make memories for people, when we know it will take months and may be as long as a year to and the hartford community really depends on bushnell and other venues like it. it is an essential piece of the economy but also our culture. sen. moran: thank you, senator blumenthal. senator lee? sen. lee: thank you for being here. turnedid-19 pandemic has everything into a state of disarray. it has been hard on so many industries. every aspect of our economy has been harmed by it. it has devastated businesses of all shapes and sizes. manufacturers, travel and tourism, energy and transportation, just to name a few. today's hearing with the live entertainment industry is important. luckily, with the approval of a covid-19 vaccine, and hopefully more approvals yet to come, along with an effective distribution chain with those vaccines, i am guardedly optimistic that we will soon or aturselves coming in least being able to see a better outcome in the coming year. while i am confident in our logistics networks and our ability to swiftly transport the , it is going to be some time before americans have access to the vaccine and we have to consider the full economic impact of the pandemic and the government's response to it, and as we carefully consider alternatives that we have, we have solutions that i only provide funds but also ensure a smooth trajectory toward reopening and a swift bounce back to normal, which is what we all crave. the live entertainment industry has certainly suffered fairly severe economic harm and i'm glad we are getting the hearing for today. , nowthe vaccine on its way seems a good time for us to solutions, every striped we can imagine, to help facilitate that smooth transition back to normal federal regulations, federal rules put in place by executive branch agencies can be one of many things in an economy that can slow things down and it is especially important, especially considering the funds that have been appropriated and may yet be appropriated, for us to also look at ways in which we can get government to not do things that might otherwise do. it might -- that might be harmful and might slow down our return to normal. i was wondering if each of you could identify, is there any regulation that congress ought to be aware of, that congress ought to be looking at carefully, in such a way that could help restore your transition to normal? we will start with you, mr. strickland. michael: thank you, senator lee. gorilla and i hesitate to mention it, is the liability indemnity situation. unless and until there is something dealt with on liability indemnity, all of these live event businesses is at risk. let's assume we in one way or another resolve the financial struggles and issues. if the liability situation is not resolved in a manner such that class action lawsuits are not rampant, then you will find very few venues, promoters, artists, cities, states that will want to put on large-scale events. let's go to garth brooks, a client of mine. we have three sold-out 100,000 person stadium shows from last year that we moved to this year. we want to do a lot more of those. 100,000 people in a football stadium with no liability protection is a class action waiting to happen. you will find 5000 people that will join a class-action. legislatively and administratively, that his family the next big issue -- that is probably the next big issue. why did i bifurcate financial relief from liability indemnity? i learned from watching what has gone on at congress for the last nine months, that we keep getting back to liability indemnity as a sticking point. i find it imperative that we resolve the financial issue first, to allow the live event industry to survive, and then we start drilling down and looking at what we can do about liability indemnity. sen. lee: there are those who say states can handle that on our own. that we don't need a federal response -- we don't need a federal standard. what is your response to that? michael: our industry is reliant largely on what we call a tour, which is when a large band goes to most cases all 50 states for shows. if you have a patchwork situation where you can't play in particular states because it is a hazard because the rules are different, you will never be able to book a tour, and if you can't book a tour, which is the backbone of the live event industry, then you are stuck with no ability to mount large-scale tours such as garth brooks or the rolling stones. even when you work down to the smaller level, the smaller acts will not be able to work until there is a singular fit. it has been suggested, as you know, flood relief falls back on the federal government, simply because there is no insurance agency that would step up and take that. there probably is some kind of a workout, whereby a situation like flood relief becomes the pandemic relief, and i would leave that to those of you in congress to figure out the details. sen. lee: thank you. i see that my time has expired. sinema?an: senator sen. sinema: i want to enter into the record a letter from the sports administration. i want to thank our witnesses for their testimony on this topic. arizona has a vibrant entertainment economy that means thousands of jobs and multiple opportunities for people to enjoy music, art, and sports. it also draws tourists to arizona. nationwide, 85% of the live and her team industry has been furloughed. i'm hearing daily from arizonans and small businesses in the entertainment industry that are struggling to stay afloat as venues are closed or strictly limited due to the pandemic. i am proud to be a cosponsor of the save our stages legislation and restart act, both of which can provide relief to the entertainment industry. the save our stage bill will provide $15 billion to support independent clubs, concert halls and theaters that meet certain criteria. the restart act includes a new loan program to support businesses that have taken a substantial revenue hit during the pandemic. at that -- as the bipartisan covid discussions continue, i will continue to encourage my colleagues to provide aid to the entertainment industry. my question is for mr. strickland. the sports and live athletics industry have suffered. i was looking forward to many races and events this year such as the boston marathon that were canceled or made virtual. when a large event like a marathon is canceled, it is not just the participants who were disappointed. the vendors who provide services are also hurt. i understand your company has provided lighted -- lighting from any of these events. -- for many of these events. one your perspective, -- similar events? michael: you are very correct. we have moved into what i call the less sexy side of the live event business, when you're do it -- when you are doing sound and lights for a foot race or a baseball game. i was once involved in -- in the flying kite -- flying camera system. it is very vital and as we sit here today, folks working the that today are part of ecosystem, they are part of the 3% who are working. sports are near and dear to my heart. i sit on the board of the women's basketball hall of fame. one of my mentors was the late pat summit. part of the lost set of people that you don't realize are infected -- affected by this, and these are people who restart holistically allows the largest number of people to survive and to quote the gentleman that founded -- in tennessee, do the most good on the largest scale. that is what we need to do. i don't think congress intends to pick winners and losers, and i think that by passing a thattic bill like restart, you would allow those devastated businesses, including those in the sport sector to survive. sen. sinema: my next question is for mr. hartke. movie theaters have experienced a 95% drop in revenue since the pandemic began. company -- i am told that the patrons are still eager to support the business and they are buying popcorn to go. other arizona independent venues are expressing the same concerns. isr&b venue in phoenix supposed to sell a break their 30th anniversary next year but last week they put up a gofundme page because they are in danger of closing after nine months without revenue. i understand that you and your wife co-owner two live music venues. from your perspective, which aspects of the sos act are important -- are most important to saving our music venues? adam: thank you for the question, senator. we love sos act because it focuses on a small amount of --inesses have ankansas, we independent venue with a beer store. includes nonprofits and for-profits. billver the gamut with the . some flex ability on spending and payroll. we are able to pay our bills that we need to pay now. it gives us a little bit of time that we can persevere and avoid closure. loan.a grant, not a many of us are highly leveraged, that is just the nature of our business. so we have loans out on our business already, so taking out a loan isn't what people really want to do right now, or they have already exhausted that option. those are kind of the main points. sen. sinema: vista chairman, i see that my time has expired. might i ask one more question of mr. hartke? sen. moran: there are other members, but you can go ahead and ask. sen. sinema: mr. hartke, one more question for you. -- listed over 400 shows throughout the year. in 2020, the only had 68 shows, and every single one of those was before march 12. they usually employ 106 staff but have not opened their doors in nine months. the owner of -- lounge in phoenix says his club has been closed for months and he told them the ppp program did not work well. you shared the same experience in your testimony. can you tell us why the ppp program did not work for you? loan did not work. -- for an industry that was closed for nine months and we have another nine months at minimum ahead of us. payroll is not our biggest expense. paid to 75% as originally stipulated in payroll and many of our employees did not have any work to do since we were fully shuttered. those two are the biggest components of why the ppp doesn't work. andtionally, it is a loan, we are trying to not work that. sen. sinema: i get that. mr. chairman, thank you for the indulgence. sen. moran: you are welcome. senator young. sen. young: thank you mr. chairman and to our witnesses. every person, business and industry has been impacted by this pandemic, but there is no question the live entertainment industry has been hit especially hard. in your testimony, mr. strickland, you testified that $877 billion is the size of the live entertainment industry. it has earnedow, zero income since mid-march. the firstwe saw shipments of covid-19 vaccine delivered to hundreds of disbursement centers across the country. that was very encouraging. it is going to provide light at the end of the tunnel, to help the american people and businesses of all kind. the live entertainment industry inherently relies on large crowds to operate, leaving the industry in a particularly vulnerable place, far beyond the first wave of a vaccination. it is going to be a while before the industry can recover. it is not just sports and entertainment venues in field houses. we have a lot of those throughout the state of indiana. medium andmall, large businesses across the country that make up the massive supply chain that keeps this industry chugging along. discussedu and i have trust systems based in indiana, that i visited in march 2020. they had 72 employees and were actively looking to hire more hoosiers. today, the picture looks a lot different. they only have -- they are down to less than 20 people. based inyrotechnics kings berry, indiana. i spoke to their owner, and they have been forced to lay off 75% of their employees. it is vital we take necessary steps to support the live under steam -- the live entertainment industry and the small businesses, during this unprecedented public health crisis. there are additional measures needed to do that. i want to thank chairman moran, who is chairing this subcommittee hearing, for becoming the 60th cosponsor of my restart act, which i do believe would provide the requisite solution to the challenges your industry is other very hard-hit industries in the midst of this pandemic, and subsequent government measures that disrupted industries like your own. i feel like there is a moral imperative for -- for us to act in response. my restart proposal would target limited resources to help those hardest hit businesses and provide flexible loans to help employers with a broad set of operating expenses, instead of a heavy focus on payroll costs. this is especially important for those who can't maintain full payrolls due to significant and sustained loss of revenue. mr. strickland, can you discuss why it is so important to restructure the ppp program to focus more on revenue, rather than payroll retention, like my restart proposal would do in its benefit to your industry? michael: a great question. senator young and i did not know each other nine months ago and we know each other fairly well now. i wish we had before us, 32 options. but we don't. i only see one option, and that is restart, which senator young and senator bennett authored. you canportant because use it all for operations and overhead and basically keeping the lights on, or you can use some of it for payroll and payroll related expenses, which will be forgiven and then the rest will be turned into a loan. it is important that we be able to use a vehicle like this because no one in the live event space today has the ability to secure a main street lending loan or a commercial loan. the banks have turned their backs on us, and i understand that. we don't have a balance sheet, we don't have ap nl, and we don't have an income stream. we don't have anything that is bankable. we are here with our hat in our hands, begging. young: and congress should help you out. i am very frustrated that we have not helped you. forvernment mandate understandable and i think appropriate public health reasons is one of the main reasons that your rank and file workers are hurting, and they deserve some help. institutions. conservatives are supposed to believe in institutions. government is an institution and government should be there in times of emergencies to help americans, or they will lose faith in government and government leaders. with your indulgence, mr. chairman, i have one other line of inquiry. it won't take long. last month during a house financial services subcommittee hearing on pandemic insurance, several committee members indicated that congress should wait until the current crisis is over, before contemplating a program to address any future occurrences. this is either for you, mr. strickland, miss -- mr. strickland, mr. laffitte, for each of you. what are your thoughts on the development of a pandemic federal insurance program that covers or industry, in the event of a future government mandated shutdown, due to another pandemic? or other national crisis? word on the street is, because of a number of different factors, increased globalization in the change factors,e, many other trade patterns, this is not going to be the last pandemic that this or future generations will face. what are your thoughts on that insurance model? michael: as i stated earlier, we cannot purchase insurance. we cannot purchase liability protection. we cannot purchase pandemic insurance. and simply isn't offered. insurance companies are not interested in it. the only feasible solution as i see is what i mentioned earlier, something like the federal flood insurance program where the government stands between disaster and the affected businesses. as to what that would look like, i would model it after the federal flood insurance program. sen. lee: -- sen. young: thank you very much. back, mr. chairman. sen. moran: you have nothing to yield back. senator rosen. are you with us? senator rosen? senator cantwell. sen. cantwell: thank you. and for people participating, i want to thank thousands of the independent artists and venues for trying to communicate this is seo. when you're talking about issues and macklemore, pearl jam, many others you can see that music is an important issue to the state of washington. i want to thank senator klobuchar and corn in for there ison -- bipartisan support in a stimulus package, but we have a long way to go to make that a reality. a survey by the washington nightlife music association, 63% of independently close clubs would have no choice but to permanently close, you guys have been talking about many of those issues, even in spokane, a staple of the music scene there closed its doors and in dividend venues like spokane arena, the knitting factory, the fox, and many others are impacted by the closures and looking for the relief. when i hear these comments this morning and our colleagues you think this would be a slamdunk, if nothing else we can go ahead ,nd pass legislation for us 38,000 washingtonians, a two point $4 billion music industry overall. so, we do not want to see permanent closure because it is hard to start these again. you have been talking a lot about the problem, but could any of the reit -- witnesses give us real-life examples of what witnesses are struggling. so much of our state they have been trying to hold on. they know that permanent -- closure probably means permanent closure, but could you give us examples of what people are trying to do to hold on. >> thank you. but to bring up about the great state of washington, i was involved in an endeavor called red alert restart where we lit all the buildings read across the nation. pearl jam made magic, thank you very much, in seattle. i cannot give them enough kudos. they reached out to me and then went out to work in turn seattle read beginning with the space leader and flowing from there. but, i have a 1.2 million personal emailed change -- chain. question, 30% of the businesses have closed. we are not having a conversation this morning -- moment about what will happen, we are having a conversation about what has happened and what will continue to happen. -- smallerr companies and what we call the gig workers, those people have shifted out of the space and they are working at amazon or somewhere else. they have left the industries they have loved, some never to return. we anticipate 20% to 30% will never return to the space. some of the smaller companies have folded, and lost all of their assets through auction, and that money does not go to them. so, i wish i could give you a story of happiness and how people have been able to survive, but the simple truth is that no one is surviving, they are failing daily. and, we are not at the edge of the cliff, we have gone over and like the cat in the cartoon, most of our industry is hanging on by a thread. cantwell: that is what we wanted to eliminate. we have got to get our colleagues to understand that we have to act now on this legislation. >> thank you for joining us, let us see if senator rosen is now available. sen. rosen: can you hear me this time? technology is great when it works, sometimes that microphone gets you. i want to thank all of the witnesses and being here and for traveling across the country for your communities. independent industries are continuing to be a challenge, but the live events industry has been the hardest hit. they are a major draw in nevada and help drive our economy. nearly half a million job are part of our live event and tourism ecosystem, and unfortunately nevada's live events committee is struggling. performers and support staff have seen their work come to a complete halt and things are not able to open during the pandemic. it is no doubt that targeted financial assistance, such as you have all been speaking to, and i will continue to be supportive of those efforts. to revive the economy, aid cannot be a one-time infusion. as we look forward to the future of safely operating, we will also need to implement creative and innovative solutions for venues and other businesses that reopen and give the public more confidence to go back into these indoor spaces. given that live event met venues depend -- event venues talk about large in-person gatherings, can you talk about the importance of consumer confidence to provide businesses and all funding, and ppe the technologies that make indoor activities safer for the public, and could you speak more specifically to businesses that you work at that have upgraded their hvac or air purification, any of those technologies that improve the air that we breathe, and as we know we do that we can medicate the spread of covid-19 through the air. let us begin. >> thank you for the question. we are definitely in a whole new world and we are rapidly learning what that means for our industry. the answer is yes, safety is number one protocol in our industry. our industry is one that gathers a large group of people together, so inherently there are numerous things pre-covid that we had to plan for. and this is another layer of that. safety first is always a big priority for live events. invested in somehow air purification systems and some do not have the funds to do it. but it is part of everybody's plan to take the steps necessary to ensure that the public is safe when they return to live events. sen. rosen: thank you. mr. strickland: thank you. not unlike new york, california, and nashville, you mention the economic impact, it is broader than the economic impact on the live event industry, because when you bring a live events to las vegas, you generate hotels and restaurants, and taxis, airlines, and all the ancillary businesses. the effect is far-reaching in all 50 states. when you do not have events, everyone suffers. what we are seeing now, but moving to the safety side, you have two conditions to look at, the medical condition which is vaccine related and exactly how the vaccine does or does not work and what the outcome is. we will plan for the worst and hope for the best. let us assume that the vaccine works and is safe. we then moved to the social or human condition. how safely people feel? how much will you want to go and see a show? that is an answer to 340 million people and they will answer one at a time. we have a lot of information telling us that there is a high degree is, -- of confidence. we have three sold out garth brooks stadiums and we have had literally no requests for refunds. the same thing can be stat -- said for a number of large events where the refund rate at this moment is low, so that indicates to us a high degree of confidence. having said that, let us discuss that question after the first event is held. i understand that my time is just about up but i would like to submit questions for the record and talk more about our air purification systems and how we support that so people can feel confident to go back indoors to our wonderful venues. thank you. tester, i believe you are are cleaning up. sen. tester: any time that i can get on a committee chaired by senator moran, i am there. thank you. look, i click -- came to this late because we have a bunch of conflicts with the senate, but i have heard talk about a number of bills that i am on. save our stage and the restart act and the encores act. and i am hearing everyone saying the right thing. if you are listening senator young, i would be more than happy to work with you on libation -- liability insurance for these entities because i think mr. strickland is collect -- correct. these venues have unusual circumstances. getting back to what i am going to say, i have heard people talk , and i do not think that anybody has said that you guys are full of bs, everybody that i have heard has said, we feel your pain. you guys not know if are frustrated because we continue not to do anything, but it frustrates the hell out of me. you guys have been impacted by something that you do not have any control over. you could be the best business people in the world and do everything right, yet you are getting submarine by this dam coronavirus. and so, i would want to work with a number of folks in my state, sean lynch, they are small venues, and by the way, you are right. for all -- for every dollar in a small venue it results in $12 of economic activity within those regions. you are absolutely right. thanyou do impacts more just going to a concert. from the five folks we have, or i see four, but there is five on my agenda, could you tell me what happens six to 10 months from now for your business. let us assume that the vaccine is good and that people go back to the concerts again, but we know that it will be a 6, 8, 10 months. your projections may be that or longer. that is the way i see it. are you guys still going to be around? mr. hartke: thank you for the question. without help, no, we will not be. we are at a cliff and we have been nine months closed with no revenue, and we still have all of our expenses. without help the independent venues will not last. if we do get help, then we will be around and we will put all of our effort into a recovery. and supers important, important for the local region. because we will drive tourism and bring people back out. it will be a slow recovery, we will have to hold to reduce capacity to see how it works and that is maybe an 18 month period where we are at severely decreased revenue. not only will the save our stages act help us survive now, it also helps with the recovery and we really anticipate that once we get through this and consumer confidence is back, then we will see a boom. excited to go out and see a show right now, and i think a lot of people feel that way, but that is going to be down the road and not immediate. this not only helps us survive, but it helps us be a part of the recovery period. like to jump in if i might. that is the value in the restart act. it is very simply that it is a seven year loan with no payments in year one, that is critical. we will have no money in your brun -- year one because if we had restart money in february we are going to be broke. in year run there is no payments. year two, interest-only. year three to seven, we get through the note. we can live through that, that is a path to survival. >> but if we do nothing, which we do not feel like we will do much from the senator's perspective, it is good. but if you do nothing we will -- will you be in business? mr. strickland: no, we disappear. sen. tester: anyone else want to talk about this? >> we want to be part of a solution, part of the recovery, so in terms of how it relates to this hearing? a lot of our companies are over the cliff. isaiah report from the department of transportation not long ago that showed as many as 400 to 500 companies have lost operating authority, meaning that they are closed. as business comes back we want to take people to those venues and stages, but we know that when -- that in the travel and tourism industry, that planning process takes a long time. we will lose companies over the next six months until businesses starts to open up again, and that planning process in many cases get people on the buses and tors or back to work and commuter scheduled service may take another year beyond that we need help now and we cannot wait another six months. say tester: i just want to you guys have got to be going crazy. your livelihoods are on the line, and you look to have a federal government that has your back and you look back and it is not there. i am going to continue and i will give you my personal word that i will continue to make sure that we get all three of these bills across the finish line, and i think the liability issue is a good one, in the end we have to help the economy. i talked to a good economist and you guys are hurting. this economist says if we do nothing, were going to go back into a recession and potentially a depression. we are not done with the worst part of this pandemic yet. i think that the folks in washington, d.c., and i am concerned about the death too. but, when you have challenges like this, you have to keep the economy down and payoff the debt down the line. i want to thank you for being here and what you do. i think it is important for our society, so thank you. >> thank you. i would highlight for you in particular that i would be that -- happy to be the chairman of any committee you are a member of. we will see if that is the case come january. senator tester, thank you for sharing your frustration. i gave remarks on the senate floor three weeks ago saying just because we cannot do everything, let us do what we can do, let us do something, and then a week or 10 days ago, additional remarks seem to say we are doing something, but it is slow slow, can we speed up the process. what is figure out among our colleagues what we can do. there are some things that seem incapable at the moment but it does not mean that we should not do what we can agree on, i think that is a wide away about dutch array of options and particularly the legislations we talked about today. they seem to be things that we can do with broad, bipartisan support and we need to speed up the timeframe as indicated today, these businesses are in jeopardy of no longer existing. we will conclude this hearing in a moment, but i want to ask a couple of questions of mr. lafitte. earlier, i mentioned the paycheck protection program that was the main relief program treated by congress to retain employees. in your experience did music artists utilize ppe and why or why not? mr. lafitte: thank you for the question. the ppp program was a great program for as long as it lasted, and it has been stated time and again it did not last long enough. i had several clients who qualified, and as a result we were able to take care of some of our crew and essential workers who spent their entire lives doing nothing except from going towards a tour. as you know the issue here is that the money has run out and there is no next tour. moran: tell me about the industry you are involved with, how much income comes from touring,d perform -- particularly for smaller artists? what form of federal assistance would be most effective in helping those people? mr. lafitte: again, thank you for that question, i say anywhere from 70 to 90% comes from live performance, particularly for smaller acts. a big artist and a great songwriter could generate income through radio songs and public performance on the radio and television. that being said most of the income to get -- today is earned on the road. so, what i would heart -- hope for would be to get help from congress to help keep our works alive. be rtc, ppp program being expanded. save our standard -- stages being expanded, we need help everywhere. we are talking about an entire workforce that has nowhere else to go. you know, you are personalizing stories, one of my tour managers has been with us 15 years and is selling a new beverage. he is going from convenience store to convenient store to try to make ends meet. so, again, bringing it back to solutions, please expand ppe and brtxc, and save our stages. it is a giant workforce that needs help. the ticket taker at the small on theeds to put food table and a roof over their head, so does the usher at the big arena. we need to help everybody. you moran: you indicated support the save par stage act. are there any points that would highlight for that -- where the legislation falls short. mr. lafitte: my understanding that save par stage only covers 30% of the venues that qualify. so, the vast majority, 70% of those are not covered. again, i think we need to expand the slope, we -- scope, we need to get more venues qualified. sen. moran: thank you. it is my usual practice in hearings in seminole -- senator blumenthal and i conduct for any witness to add or correct anything they said. is there any witness that would like to add anything to the record before we conclude? --ould like mr. pantuso: i would like to follow-up on a question that senator lee had earlier on what the federal government can do. i will give you one example. we are hearing from national parks that they will only allow a bus with 10 individuals to come into the parks. grand canyon is a perfect example. they are not allowing companies to come in that do not already cua,passes in 2020, or a commercial youths -- use authorization permit. which means that as we get to the recovery and people want to bring more people into the national park system they will not be allowed to because you cannot run a bus with 10 individuals, one being the driver and one being the guide and only eight paying customers. if you have not already been to the park and have a cua, it means you cannot get one in 2021. it is one example where the federal government needs to open the doors up to allow recovery to continue. if i might result -- respond, i think that point is well made. in general about the federal government getting out of the way, but more particularly about our national parks and the example of that being a destination for a motorcoach -- are motorcoach and travel industry. travel agents suffer from the potential closure of many of these venues, and our transportation industry, and i also want to emphasize the point ye about it being a source of education and resources for our children in schools. it is part of our educational system. if we use that, we lose a buy -- a vital source of culture and education for students. the ridgefield playhouse in connecticut has been serving as forsource of education stanford and bridgeport so, makingren, and these venues available are critical for our educational system. thank you mr. chairman, and i want to thank all of the witnesses who are here today and who participated virtually, because you have added a tremendous amount to the understanding that we have of this issue. thank you. moran: any other witnesses want anything -- want to say anything? i would like to say thank you to this committee and you folks for doing this and i would like to go back to what senator tester said, we are not upset, we understand that congress has a huge challenge in front of itself, you have to deal with a huge number of bills, thousands of bills, so your knowledge and time is valuable, and thank you for taking it. we understand the process, but we just hope and pray that we and --de the lives did and plight of the industry known. we very vertically integrated. , where ifme, jenga one block goes a whole tower falls. what you see at the top is the big star and what you see at the bottom are the manufacturers like senator young reference. when this thread begins to unravel, the venues, sound people, bus people, leave you -- radio, and rodeo people and the manufacturers and the birthday party people in the party rental houses falls apart because there is no chain or echo system. and, then becomes the knock on economic effect of the rest of the community. thank you for your time. i think you wanted to say something. mr. hartke: thank you. again i wanted to state the urgency of this. hasave employees whose pua run out, and we have venues that got closed, lots of them, and lots more facing closures. i want to remind everybody that these are locally owned businesses. we live in the communities. it is venues of all sizes across the country that the save our stage's act will help. do notot have a week, we have two months, the time is now. after nine months people are going under, quick, and it is just going to be over the edge if we wait any longer. that is all i have to say, thank you. whol --an: o hopefully this corresponds with the time that the senate and congress are ready to act. thank you for highlighting the importance of this bills -- these bills and the importance to the american people, employees, and the economy. the record will remain open for two weeks in which the senators asked to submit any questions for the record. upon receipt the question -- the witnesses are asked to submit answers as soon as possible. there may be question submitted to our witnesses and we ask you to respond as quickly as you can. this concludes the hearing and i thank again the witness is for appearing today. this hearing is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [chatter] [inaudible] >> he and i talked about you in the elevator. it was very straightforward. you gave me more confidence. >> thank you very much, i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> president-elect joe biden travels to georgia today, he is campaigning in atlanta for the two democratic senate candidates both facing runoff elections. we will have those remarks live when he gets underway. also available at c-span.org, or listen live with the free radio app. senate floor this morning, mitch mcconnell acknowledged that with the electoral college votes, joe biden has been officially elected to be the next president. here's what he had to say. sen. mcconnell: as of this morning our country officially has a president-elect and vice president elect. many of us had hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result. but, our system of government has processes to determine who would be sworn in on january 20. the electoral college has spoken. so, today i want to congratulate president-elect joe biden, the president-elect is no stranger to the senate. he has devoted himself to public service for many years. theso want to congratulate vice president-elect, our colleagues from california, senator harris. all americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president elect for the first time. i look forward to finishing out the next 36 days strong with president trump. our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement. ♪ >> stay with c-span for our continuing coverage of the transition of power as president-elect joe biden moves closer to the presidency with the electoral college votes pratt -- cast across the country, join us on january 6 live at 1:00 p.m. eastern for the joint section -- session of congress to count the votes and declare the winner, and at noon on january 20, the inauguration of the 46th president of the united states. live coverage begins at 7:00 a.m. eastern from the state house, to congress, to the white house. watch it all on c-span, on the go at c-span.org, or listen using the free radio app. the food and drug administration meets in open session to approve moderna's vaccine. live coverage thursday at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three. stream live and on-demand at c-span.org, or on the free radio app. with coronavirus cases increasing across the country, use our website, c-span.org /coronavirus to follow the trends, track the spread with interactive maps and watch updates on demand anytime at c-span.org/coronavirus. and now, labor secretary genes -- eugene scalia discusses unemployment insurance. he talked about high unemployment, state -- state responses and lessons learned from the crisis. the american enterprise interest -- institute is the host of this hour-long program. >>

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