Transcripts For CSPAN2 House Hearing On Coronavirus Impact To Restaurant Operations 20240712

We are holding this hearing virtually in compliance with the regulations for Remote Committee proceedings pursuant to House Resolution 965. This is the third virtual subCommittee Hearing and the ways and Means Committee. As with our previous hearings i want members to know that i plan to continue this committees long tradition of collegiality and substantial debate, substantive debate, even as we conduct our business from afar. I will continue to work with the Ranking Member, mr. Smith, and his staff to ensure that the rights of all members are resected in these new virtual formats. Before i turn to todays important topic i want to remind members of a few procedural to help you navigate this new platform. First, consistent with regulations the committee willfi keep microphones needed to limit background noise. Members are responsible for on meeting themselves when they seek recognition or when recognized for a fiveminute statement. Second, members and witnesses must have their cameras on at all times. If you need to step away from the proceedings please leave your camera on rather than logging out. Finally, we have several members who are waiting on to the subcommittee for todays hearing. Given the large numbers we will recognize members in an order that represents a balanced ratio beginning with members on the subcommittee and i understand mr. Smith does not wish to be the first republican member to ask questions. I think all of you for your continued patience as we navigate this technology in order to continue serving our country together in this great time of need. Without objections representative don buyer is authorized to serve as the chair today in the event that i experience any technical difficulties and cant stay connected. With that i will nown turn the important topic of todays hearing, restaurants in america during the covid19 pandemic and americas restaurants and restaurant workers are a resilient force. They weathered past recessions and fought their way back after hurricanes and wildfires. The challenges they face now are unlike everything that has come before. Restaurants and other places we gather like theaters, concert halls are equally loadable and uniquely vulnerable to the Current Public Health crisis. There are places we meet up together where we celebrate and conjugate with friends and familyp, social distancing is a Public Health necessity. It cuts at the heart of an industry all about taking care aof people by bringing them together. That is not with the industries challenges and. Restaurants areat making dining spaces safer for their guests and employeesnd working to compy with the evolving Public Health guidance and facing a hit to Outdoor Dining as weathers change. E these costs add up and are toh to absorb in an industry where Profit Margins are three, 5 is the norm and that is before additional costs are added by tariffs and other factors. The toll the virus is taking on restaurants is reverberating throughout the economy. So far, covid has claimed over 30000 restaurants. It has leveled such a direct hip that one in four unemployed americans today are restaurant workers. This was an unforeseeable tragedy. Before the pandemic the Restaurant Industry was booming with over 1 million establishments nationwideh employing over 15 Million People in the Restaurant Workforce is hit just as hard, if not harder than the others. Restaurant work is tough in the industry is full of tenacious young, strong people. Restaurant workers are disproportionately young and people of color and restaurants employ more than 1 million single moms. These jobs disappeared through no fault of the restaurant workers and many of whom want to be back at work as soon as it is safe. They need our support. Pim proud of the pandemic relf measures that this community and other committees passed to support restaurants and the workers whose jobs disappeared. The Employee Retention tax credit and the 1200dollar checks and the 600dollar expanded federal on appointment benefits all helped. They werent perfect but they did aer lot of good. When we passed those bills we didnt know how long the virus would interrupt our economy. We were not sure how deep the recession would go and we hope the virus would be better contained by now and that the economy would be in better condition but they are not. Americas restaurants and restaurant workers need another relief package. America needs another relief package the house passed just such a measure on the 15th of may. The heroes act would approve another expanded round of stimulus checks and continue with the hundred dollars a week federal on employment supplement. It would improve the ppp and Employee Retention tax credit and it would help restaurants make rent through a tax credit that i lead keeping the lights on act. The senate has wasted more than four months. We would have to act now to say this industry before it is too late. 85 of independent restaurants may go under before the end of the year if more federal relief doesnt come. This is unthinkable. Restaurants make enormous contributions to our economy and our labor markets. But they do more than that and they make our neighborhoods more walkable and vibrant and they help us get acquainted with other cultures and get in touch with her own roots. They give us space to celebrate our lives and even just take our mind off our daily difficulties. My my district its an integral part of our community. Restaurants are fighting to survive and we need to stand with them. I would like to warmly welcome all the witnesses joining us today and thank you for what you do. With that, i would like to recognize the Ranking Member mr. Smith of nebraska for the purposes of an Opening Statement. Mr. Smith, you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to express my mfrustration. I am frustrated that we are having another hearing a under e auspices of the subcommittee while Important Information that we will hear i think its important to note that the majority of what we will hear from our Witnesses Today will have almost nothing to do with what is in our subcommittee jurisdiction. Am frustrated that even though we are holding the subCommittee Hearing democrats are waving you to come here to talk about the political priorities that issues which are in our jurisdiction. Given this intense interest perhaps we could have a constructive full Committee Hearing on topics within the full committees jurisdiction like discussing tax measures such as the Employee Retention credit, Economic Relief payments and other issues finding the workers and employers. I am most frustrated by the primary reason and the democratic leadership has these messaging opportunities for members for members overcoming to the table to have a serious conversation about how to most effectively reopen our economy. Even as we meet it appears the speakers primary interest is holding show both on another partisan package which has a compost nothing but help hurting meamericans so that the speakers members can go home and tell c their constituents they did something even though really nothing was done. It is time to start working. Ass i said last time we met rob again have ideas on how to help our workers and we are committed to defeating the disease and safely reopening our economy. We know in many areas we can have bipartisan agreement. We are frustrated just as i know many of our democrat colleagues are frustrated by the willingness of the speaker to hold hostage to be passed on a bipartisan basis. We saw this willingness over the summer when she declined the president s opportunity for enhanced unappointed benefits to continue to negotiate [inaudible] we saw this week when she pulled out of bipartisan payment risking the Government Shutdown to hold hostage aid to farmers in my district along with ranchers and producers and hungry families. We see it every time she begins a conversation about covert aid by demanding a dollar figure rather than sharing actual priority or resuming a healthy open United States of america. We must do better. Essential workers including those who work on a restaurants deserve real action. Our witnesses can testify toat that. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Restaurants are vital to our economy and they provide Economic Opportunity for people of all ages and provide millions of jobs. My districts number one in the nation and agate production and in tabasco we understand that adding value to culture is as important as the initial production. You do immense work. Thank you for doing what you do. Restaurants, cooks, servers, bartenders and others need assistance and i hope we can have a constructive conversation about ways we can help in the subcommittees jurisdiction such as assistance with cleaning and baking costs or adjusting the employer retention pack tax credit. We must also keep in mind restaurants arent the only sector of our economy hurting because of restrictions on travel and public gatherings. Hotels, theaters, gems and sporting venues are just a few of the other industries impacted. I would like to ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter from the National Franchisee association in several Hotel Lodging associations in support of scontinuing access to the payrol Protection Program. Without objection, such will be ordered. Thank you. Before i go back i would like to also ask unanimous consent to include ranking the publican gradys open into the record. Without objection such will be ordered. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. Thank you mr. Smith. I am proud that our Committee Chairman is joining us today. His unwavering commitment to the restaurant and Hospitality Industry in western massachusetts is well known and outstanding. E minutes to his brave remarks that he would like to make. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member smith. In a special that thanks to the house. We have a more common purpose in the recognition and the acknowledgment until we defeat this virus, were not interested into a full economic recovery. These restaurants are e restaurants are hurting, all over the country in urban and rural areas. My heart goes out to those owners and their employees and the community they serve and indeed sustain. People gather not just for good meal or a place to connect the families and friends but they are important job creators. Everybody on this committee should be dismayed by the testimony that was offered by the chairman of the Federal Reserve board. Nobody looks at the Federal Reserve board fences their democrats republicans pick his testimony now as it was before we wrote the cares act was profound. What he suggested was the economy is in need of a major infusion of liquidity. We should all be united around that testimony. Secretary mnuchin reinforced the Federal Reserve chairman jay powellak had to say. Speaker pelosis position on this has been entirely consistent with that testimony. Red rose in springfield, the lucky strike or in williamstownr where the bistro and bar was cofounded by one of my constituents Nettie Thomas r on making the same argument and plea. When the covid virus 19 had stayed home orders and social distancing, it had a cataclysmic effect on our e nations restaurants and their workers. Currently come restaurants contribute to one in four job losses from the covid19 shutdown. Even an establishment that at home on or to wages and hours. We never difficult it is in the industry to retain employees. The Payroll Protection Program is part of the cares act providing a financial lifeline to businesses and an incentive for Restaurant Owners to keep their workers. Ill load in my district, 800 ppp loans were distributed to restaurants that totaled close the 68 million, and saved 14,000 jobs. Many restaurantnd workers are women and people of color who are often marginalized and this Program Provides peace of mind for them and their families. Im proud of the work the commonwealth of massachusetts has done that thoughtfully reopened restaurants across the commonwealth. I speak with governor baker almost every day about the need for additional assistance. On study night we spent an hour on the phone discussing this very matter and hope to report to them over this weekend that congress is paying attention to the request that he has made. Its a good example of how to move forward with properly public guidelines that we need tool follow. But more is needed to help our nation struggling restaurants. We need to continue to remember that this more than anything else is a health crisis. Our nations economy will not bounce back and to repeat it, is with us until it is safe and effective to embrace a vaccine as well. Since march the ways and Means Committee has taken substantial steps that only to combat the Public Health crisis but to support American Workers and keep our economy afloat. Remember with the cares act, only five members of the house of o representatives voted agait the cares act. Many of those efforts we try to replicate and included in the heroes act and it would help owners and their employees in restaurants as well. It increases the Employee Retention tax credit which i will press for as we proceed to new negotiations, and it makes it more applicable to employers in types of expenses. The ways and means tethys as made up the 63 million workers that receive assistance by vigorously embracing the Employee Retention tax credit. This boost the ppp as well and it will help employers continue to pay their employees. The heroes actco also expands pd sick leave and paid family and medical leave, and also helps clearly the Families First act that weve embraced at the end of 2021. It provides another red Economic Impact payments and expansions of childcare and refundableug credits helping struggling workers and their families. These are reasonable, effective relief measures and they go a a long way to help alleviate more restaurant closures and help workers who are desperate for support and assurance. This is the biggest crisis that the Restaurant Industry has ever faced, and the Ripple Effect will be felt through other jobs that support restaurants like food supply chains, farmers, fishermen, and indeed truck drivers. In my district its had a double impact. Tanglewood in the berkshires canceled their season any of the area restaurants were impacted because of it. The effects will be felt all going into this fall of season when many tourists usually, by the tens and hundreds of thousands, flock to the area. The Restaurant Industry and those that supported need certainty now more than ever that we have an obligation to help them and that includes the infusion of more money into our economy. The heroes act provides that. I applaud Mike Thompson again, chairman, for his leadership on these important issues and want to remind all what i said earlier. The Federal Reserve board is not comprised of democrats and republicans. Testimony offered two days ago by jay powell should have a profound impact on these deliberations. These restaurants simply need help. So thanks topl you, mike, for holding this hearing. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Without objection, all members Opening Statements will be made part of the record. Thank you to our distinguished witnesses for taking the time to appear before us today to discuss this very important issue. First, we have mayor buddy dyer of orlando, florida. Mayor dyer is the city of orlandos longestserving mayor, having served continuously since his first election in 2003, and one of the longestserving bigcity mayors in the United States. Before Holding Public office, mayor dyer worked as an environmental engineer. Sondra bernstein is the proprietor of the girl and the fig restaurant in sonoma california. The sick cafe and wine bar, and an event space fullservice tailoring company and food truck. Truck. Cookbook author and has a podcast dedicated to food. Christine ha is the ship and proprietor of the blind goat restaurant in houston, texas. This is her first restaurant after winning season three of master chef in 2012. Notable dur permanent blindness. She suffers from a result of an autoimmune disease. Following are televised when, she authored New York Times bestselling cookbook. And cook show and served as masterchef. In another, has markets a food server in pinon steakhouse in las vegas for 35 years. Is been a member of the culinary Workers Union, local 226 in las vegas. Since 1982. Learning and when he was just 16 years old. And, a resident of one fair wage, coauthor of restaurant opportunities that are united. And a Food Laboratory Research Center in california berkeley. Melvin, the 2020 chairman of the National Restaurant association and president and ceo of the restaurant in new orleans and baton rouge, louisiana. New york or new orleans location has been in business since 1905. The former president of the louisiana Restaurant Association. Each of your statements will be made part of the record and it is entirely. I would ask you that you summarize your testimony in five minutes or less. Now be within time, there is a clock on the screen. If you go over your time, i will notify you when the tap the gavel on the marking pens read it and all again for being here. In mayor we will start with you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. The 17 years of the the privilege of serving he was the mayor of the great city of orlando must be no orlandos roles number one destination for visitors. We also like to say for the best places to live in Small Business. Anyways americas new melting pot. Regional community were more than a thousand new residents join us every single week. Lots of access to opportunity. And quite honestly better example of the strength that comes from our diversity and how we work with great opportunity and are restaurant spray to play in civil, orlandos restaurant town. Room to the headquarters of some of the most iconic brands lobster, and also the popular emerging brands such as for reverse barbecue and the asian street fair. Equally important were home to a vibrant downtown and any main street small districts. Orders are filled with family owned restaurants. Their living the American Dream everything the day making incredible food and adding to the unique Cultural Diversity while providing residents with places to make memories, good friends and families are sharing our restaurant, Chicago Tribune and other publications. As one of the best foodies places in america. So are restaurants in the ecosystem that supports them are vital part of our local economy rated the foundational part of our culture. A. M. Your behalf of these diverse restaurants. And everyone is part of it. Im here on behalf of our main street Small Business owners in orlando Small Businesses all across america. Im here to deliver a distress call. Our restaurants are in trouble and they need your help. The local level, we encourage the restaurants to think outside of the box last several months to help them in ways to stay afloat during the crisis due to expanded Outdoor Dining in parking lots and sidewalks and parks. We turn any of our city streets in the restaurant parks. The big spending carry out an alcohol sales. We have done everything we can think of from a local government standpoint and this point, more than a third of the restaurant workers have been laid off or furloughed operators dont know when or if will be able to bring it back. Our restaurants need to help. Members of the subcommittee. Wish each of you can take a walk with me through our Small Business district kind to meet some of these great people. These are powerful stories about everything you have into a business into a dream. And right now you heres stories of perseverance and strength. Here what is like to work harder than you ever thought possible. In order to keep your business open and your employs a separate here how much they want to operate safely. And finally indiscretion. What is like to be scared about the future. And not know how much longer you can hold on. None of the congress and the administration are currently debating various ways to help the Restaurant Owner survive this pandemic. And when i talked to those in my community, the. Clear of what they need crane expansion, increase flexibility, ppe. Expansion of the Employee Retention tax credit or anything of this committee is considering. Tax credits to help the unexpected costs of personal protective equipment. To help their employees and customers those are big things that can help those businesses and by association, the town centers and communities that make our try to make it through these difficult times. There be a time in this pandemic when like terms to normal brain about for so any people return to normal will involve being able to once again gathering restaurant. But the thing is if we dont act now to help our restaurants, there may not be restaurants to go back to. Thats not an exaggeration. That is a reality on main street america right now. Putting differences aside and Work Together to help our restaurants. I think you for your time today. It. Thank you for your testimony mayor. Thank you so much. Really appreciate you having me today. Im in the Hospitality Business for almost 40 years. I started as a server the tgi friday. Eventually traveled around the country opening up new restaurants. I fell in love the Restaurant Business. I was going to be a photographer but i just loved being with people rated blood serving food and feeling like i was having a party everyday. I decided that i was going to do everything i could to work towards having my own business. In 1997, i opened my first restaurant. We started with 17 employees. Family members. I was such a moment. Think about the adrenaline of opening a restaurant. Is my favorite part. So exciting. Twentythree years later, my business is still there. I worked really hard to expanded with other operations putting catering. We had 240 employees right before the pandemic. I shut down before the mandate because i was really concerned about our employees getting sick. And i guess getting sick and not really understanding what was going on. We just shut the doors and try to think about what we are going to do. We ended up laying off 170 over team members. These are family members, people who have worked really hard for us. After the restaurant in our community. It was heartbreaking. It took a little while, so grateful for the ppe. Obviously there were issues in the beginning argues that money within 833 were so grateful that some of those things can be changed so that it could be extended. We have since used our money. The money is gone. Weve been able to retain 75 and 80 employees. When a beautiful season right now. Wine country summer. Outdoor season, we have minus allowances to expand into the sidewalks. In her park plaza greatest fear doing absolutely everything we can to stay afloat. Clean out that if we are clean, we can maybe get through the spring but i never wouldve thought that today we would still be in the rest of the pandemic. Another such great programs. The tax retention credit and the restaurant act that the Restaurant Coalition and up in the coalition is working on. Theres a any great programs that are out there. We need help like yesterday. Once water happened and we cannot serve outside. Were going to have to lay off another 60 people. I dont know i dont know how went dream of what i have done for all of these years has or will disintegrate. I miss our guests gathering around the table. It miss hearing her staff. I miss hearing kitchen yelling for the runners to come get the food and so any other things. Must welcome im so grateful for all of you. To take the time to consider the Restaurant Business. I am one of so any Small Businesses. I can imagine everybody else is feeling the same pain i am. And the other thing that i want to note really quickly is that we are a trickledown business. So for not doing business. And work not buying from our farmers and ranchers. In our catering, we lost over 50 weddings this catering season. The photographers and the djs and the fans in the floris the cake makers. All of these people lost that business too. So it comes down to celebration and memories and having the gap instead of creating these incredible times, where panic and advair. And were just scared of the invisible pandemic that is happening around us that we have absolutely no control over. So thank you and i really appreciated the effort and grateful for the opportunity to speak. Thank you very much. Good morning. Thank you so much for this opportunity to testify before you today. Ill take a little bit about my story. My name is christine. My parents were viennese refugees. They came here on eight u. S. Naval ship in 1975. They escaped one day before the eminem fall. Came here to america to make a better life for themselves. I lawrence other california and raised in texas. Growing up in texas, i was straddling two different posters. Made a lot of viennese home. Back then when things a belly, were not yet trendy meat spring that was for my parents could afford. My mom did a great job cooking these ingredients and making them into meals that a family and make them go along place credit forwarded several years. I was in college and actually never learned to cook for my mom. She passed away when i was 14. The foods in my youth writing the flavors of the inmates foods and my mom cooked. So i taught myself how to cook in college. My first cooked meal my remains of my friends enjoyed. It was totally worth it. All of this left in the kitchen and the smell of fish sauce and onions and things but i was able to feed my friends. Them something about the joy of being able to create something and feed other people and welcome them at my table. My small little west Campus Apartment that made me feel the joy of cooking. So i kept at it. I became a good cook. And coincidentally in my 20s, from the same time and i was excelling in cooking, began to lose my vision. Due to an auto immune disease. And it affects your optic nerve and spinal cord. Hadley my corporate job eventually. And just on my health and recovery. It is at the that i decided to do a career change. I would back to school to get a masters degree in creative writing. At the university of houston. The same time i decided to audition for show called masterchef. Its a show for home cooks parameter home cooks. Because thats what i was. And as a writer, i thought i wanted to experience is much as i could in life. I thought it would meet Gordon Ramsay and come home and not when the competition but have a great story to write about. But lo and behold, being the only blind contestant in this competition, i kind of just if anything, my parents had taught me. Being a survivor of the war, and the new country behind. All of the things behind to come and make a new life in america perseverance and correct. So i did my best in the competition in 2012, and fastforward seven years after that. In the last year in july i got to open my very first restaurant. On the blind goat in houston. We are take four squarefoot station inside of a mall inside of downtown houston. As one goes, we serve nontraditional vietnamese menu but true to my mothers cooking, a lot of traditional favorites that i grew up eating but of course the texas twist since i grew up in texas others little bit of barbecue, a little bit of texmex, but a lot of viennese flavors. As soon as we opened the doors, the blind goat was fortunately very very busy. Running out of food everyday. People i guess were still very interested and carries on my cooking like since i was declared a winner of the show. Several years before. So we were very fortunate to feed a lot of people and brought a lot of joy to people not only in our staff, but the guests in our community. In a december 31st, 2019. The chronicle restaurant cook give the blind got three stars. A few weeks after that, found out that we were named in the long list for the foundation of new restaurants in america. Never in a million years did i think i myself, a blind home cook will be able to run a business. Started from the ground up to be named with such an honor. And of course we all remember in midmarch, was when the country started shutting down. And on march 16th, restaurant for the blind goat immediately pivoted to takeout and delivery. We had to scale back hours. For the safety of my state, we closed our doors. Like mine, independent ones continue to survive this pandemic. Thank you. Thank you, ms. Hall. That was a very inspiring story, thank you for sharing it with us. To mr. Sandoval, you are recognized. Please proceed. Hello, everyone. My name is Mario Sandoval, im a food server on fremont street downtown las vegas. Ive been a Culinary Union member for 39 years. Today today im here to talk to you about how cuts in health care in an opponent have affected my life. I workers must be protected when they return to work and how job security and the right to return to our jobs when businesses reopen and give me and thousands of workers in nevada the hope we need to get through this pandemic. I was raised here in las vegas so i started working downtown las vegas when i was 16. Ive been working at the same job i have now since i was 21. I have seen the economy go through changes during 9 11, the 2008 recession, and i have person to walk the line without pay but ive never been through an Economic Situation like this before. And walking the line without a have never been through a situation like this before you go right now and receiving Unemployment Benefits because the workplace does not open. My payment on top of unemployment help me survive most of the year now the extra 600 is not renewed im in a 750 per month deficit every month my daughter took on the extra burden because i didnt have the money is put her in a difficult place what about the economy crashing again we can i get a job in this town right now so places have not opened. What we do . And we not only do we need Unemployment Benefits extended possible stimulus check to get pandemic. Also workers have a right to resume their jobs in the open right now we are fighting way to return to work in clark county urging commissioners to have an ordinance to protect workers like us who have lost jobs due to did it cost the Company Nothing to bring us back to work they should not waste time and money trying to hire and train with experience are just waiting for the spoken. We should not be replaced with younger workers. We spend our lives working for our company. We shouldnt have to start our careers in medicine retire with dignity. Knowing i have a job to return to gives me hope and hope can take me a long ways. We helped build our industry the least they can do for us to save our jobs. All Workers Union and nonunion need to return to work they all need help. We also need higher safety standard when they return to work we need to be protected if we get called back to work first in the nation safety regulation with covid19. If my Company Calls me that will have to follow strict laws for days off quarantine if i am exposed in the workplace will be set by the Health District and workers across the nation should have that protection last but not least a Health Insurance coverage when i went on strike in the nineties i needed Health Insurance for children. Right after that i found i had brain cancer and i needed that insurance myself been in remission 29 years play have other medications have to take my benefits are covered hundred percent especially with this crisis we are facing with this deadly disease. Workers in a congress to work on policy to protect them. Please do anything to make sure working families in america euppercaseletter bills stay in their homes and have healthcare during a deadly pandemic things work on policy guarantee workers the right to return to work when business resumes that would give working families like mine hope and we need that hope by now. Thank you for the opportunity to share my story. Thank you again. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member smith for inviting me and all the other witnesses for your moving testimony. Thank you for your work on tax credits and a stimulus check to assert uc berkeley with the National Organization and the Restaurant Industry for the last 20 years we have 220,000 restaurant worker members he hundred 50 owner members including those who testified last week and several thousand consumer members across the country. We are definitely in crisis as an industry and its heartbreaking to hear employers losing their dreams and businesses the course is sad but consumers who lose their favorite neighborhood restaurant that is lifethreatening for workers 13. 6 million know losing their dreams and their work homes, ability to the children and pay for heat and other utilities with winter coming. It is a very dire lifethreatening situation for workers literally facing homelessness right now the Restaurant Industry prior to the pandemic was in crisis secondlargest and fastestgrowing employer with the lowest paying wages of any employer in the United States due to the sub minimum wage which is a literal legacy of slavery the trade lobby demanded the right to hire and not pay them anything and have them live entirely on tips is a mutation of the original concept of tipping which was supposed to be a bonus on top of the wage slavery in the United States that made to paying a replacement for wage rather than extra bonus on top at 2. 13 wage today. To dollar increase over 150 years prior to the pandemic that led to Homeland Security and Food Insecurity economic insecurity the highest rates of sexualharassment with a largely female workforce having to tolerate inappropriate Customer Behavior and discrimination of workers of colors that have planted less than white workers resulting in a five dollars per hour wage gap between black women and a wage gap between those that existed in the industry with the pandemic it became an issue of life or death because seven states garbled of the system over again washington montana and Alaska Industries doing much better a higher job growth rates but in those 43 states our calculations based on 220,000 workers 60 percent of two workers were unable to access Unemployment Insurance because they were told the sub minimum wage was too low to qualify for benefits in their state also largely unable to access the 600 because in many cases state and i made it for them to access federal funding. So many were left without income, thousands destitute you see them living in parks. Its a very dire situation. Called back to work to observe down to 75 percent with only a twodollar wage because the same workers who are being asked to enforce social distancing and mask rules are being made to rely on tips for those very same customers and their families. Either they will enforce the families were more likely they will not enforce the rules because they need the tips to feed their families. There is a severe Public Health crisis from the cdc reported last week twice as likely to get the virus from eating in a restaurant if we expect these workers to enforce social distancing then they have the pain that they need to enforce that walmart relying on tips. Thank you so much for the tax credits and other important programs has to to consider tax credits now they are transitioning to a federal minimum wage with tips on top consider extending the fica tax credit only employers want to switch to a minimum wage with Service Charges penetrated as tips and tax credits as opposed to something different. There so much you can do to support literally thousands of Restaurant Owners who want to change the system amendment to minimum wage for most of workers who depend on that transition. Thank you. You are recognized please proceed. Are you there quick. Good morning chairman and members of the committee and the two follow witnesses for your time. Im president of restaurants in louisiana. Thank you mr. Chairman for mentioning our founding in 19 oh five that is special to me as you can imagine the stakes are high for all of us across the country also sitting chair the National Restaurant association and i have been appreciative of this hearing and inviting me to testify this morning i began let me congratulate the newest member of the committee will be a fantastic addition and all of us here in louisiana and his constituency are out of his continued achievements. We are facing a similar to the challenges facing restaurants of every type across the country with limited capacity and limited demand and only half of the 160 employees are back to work we cannot ignore what happened in the short term or hope for the ongoing efforts and potentially determine our future Restaurant Owners are making Business Decisions for october based on the actions you make today i am going to take action before leaving town for the elections because Congress Adjourns without galvanizing and industry specific recovery fund, extending the paycheck Protection Program where enhanced relief, more restaurants will close. More employees will lose their jobs, the economic crisis of the pandemic will deepen. No industry has been hit harder. Forced to close and last will and and and industry relying on social interaction during a time of social distancing. In the Restaurant Industry the landscape stark one out of six restaurants are closed 40 percent of those are likely to close in the next six months that additional federal aid and industries on track to lose 240 billion of revenue this year in my state of ministers lost 31000 jobs have the the pandemic workforce ppe and relief designed for eight weeks six months and were still months away from recovery. Restaurants have suffered more losses than any other restaurant restaurants and employees need targeted help for the second largest private sector rent for survival out why these tools congress should pass the Senate Version of the restaurant act which takes a balanced approach to independent locally owned franchised restaurants and in addition to the ppe enhancement just mentioned, should ensure businesses businesses are taxdeductible we ask that Congress Enact refundable tax credits for social distancing somebodys amid the playing operating climate and to enhance the duration of businesses that can use the Employee Retention and tax credit. Healthy restaurants and employees have a personal connection as you know and sometimes its a chain or a local restaurant but every one of you is a place that is their favorite regardless of the name on the door restaurants are community cornerstones. They have more diversity and more women in diverse managers and owners than any other sector in the economy the hospitality we share is a direct result who and by all americans your help can support us in this crisis as we continue our efforts for recovery. Thank you. Without objection and each member will be recognized for five minutes to question our witnesses we might observe the gibbons rule in this remote setting instead go in order of seniority switching between majority and minority members remember to unmute yourself and i will begin by recognizing myself. Mayor, countless other state officials across the country you are just for the needle to protect the health of your constituents while providing the opportunity to protect their economic livelihood and 85 percent of independent restaurants are in danger of closing and restaurant workers make up one out of four coronavirus related job losses had anticipated the pandemic to affect the economy of orlando short run and longrun without relief . We are substantially impacted not just revenues to the city but that are in the pockets of our citizens we had to balance the needs of restaurants would help right now is a state determined capacity issue they are limited so as a city with a thought of every unique way we can help restaurants with private parking lots or public spaces adjacent to expand capacity. Fifteen minute Parking Spaces. We turn Parking Spaces into Outdoor Dining. Work downtown 20 percent of the Office Towers are occupied which means no moonshine cloud for restaurants downtown it bleeds into every aspect of our community. Do you need federal help . Absolutely. What happens if that does not come . More and more of these restaurants and Small Businesses will close and will be out of work. More than just the restaurant community. Absolutely. What happens as a local elected the conference try up, what do you do to balance the books . In florida local governments are largely funded by property taxes so the property tax rates for set before the pandemic hit so he will be okay for the current year but the next few years of Property Values decline an extended longterm is likely to occur, we would be in a different state than we are right now. I understand but what can a City Government do . You cut services you cant raise taxes in a pandemic so we would have to cut services. You lay people off and cut services so its a double hit to your constituents not only do they lose the economics in their community to turn around and have more people unemployed with less services. Exactly. Restaurant owners invest significant time and resources with very compelling stories of those today to maintain your establishments having factored in the number of customers that you need to serve to breakeven and the capacity to do that can you help educate the committee what that means to a Restaurant Owners such as yourself and how you are just operations in the interest of Public Health . Here today we have seen 100,000 less guests than last year at this time. We have nine tables in a space we used to have 25. On a saturday they would be ten servers two or three host, the kitchen now we have two servers on the same shift. We are definitely down working at 30 percent capacity. The catering business is at about 5 percent of the Catering Company was 35 percent of the entire business its not our story alone. He didnt feel safe allowed to open the inside because we are in an old and funky building and i think we can keep the staff safe so we are trying whatever and doing collaborations with other people. But the ppe helped a lot it helps the rent which is very expensive in the area that we are. Trying to renegotiate our rent all cost is going up government cost. We have raise our prices because we know our community is suffering as well and they feel extra pressure to come to a restaurant to help save them to keep up the business so one of the things i think will go classes our ability to help our community with the wildfires we jumped in to help feed First Responders and when the pandemic came again we need and to nourish and we want to help we did about 20000 meals in a short period of time so we can keep people working our fear our community will lose some of those efforts i know we cant make it on this capacity its big expenses to a small occupancy. I know honestly. And unlike orlando sonoma doesnt have local property taxes to fall back on so of local State Government doesnt get help from the federal government and the city has to lay people off or cut services, is that your take it with you more . Without question on so many levels whether the staff to pay the bills or even to stay open to the community that depends on wages. Thank you very much you spoke to the desire to preserve the employer where the and how it having a certainty the Employee Retention and tax credit with 80 percent of wages do to help you keep staff on when you can resume normal operations . And that is the biggest areas to keep it open so anything like tax credits or any additional tax relief is most helpful to the highest parity is to pay my staff a fair wage. Because of the generosity of the ppe to supplement some of attempt to not getting because we had to close. I feel its been tough to make ends meet progress with this restaurant so i am learning everything just having to start a place with the ground up and now with covid experiencing all kinds of things in the Restaurant Industry. I follow what legislation gets passed like the tax credits will greatly help you could keep our minimal cash flow. The House Democratic these like the 1200dollar Economic Impact payments and the stimulus he told me a lot and make just under 1000 a month and unemployment is been enough to get by. With has been my life is a hospitality town. I dont know what else to say that. I just dont. And how that may be exacerbating the problem. The nations lowest paid workforce and a good 10 million workers were living with the wages facing the highest rates the of economic instability every year the department of labor that is not reflected on the incredible employers on this call 850 amazing employers not paying your workers with better Employee Retention and less turnover and we have documented and to move up letters and have access to benefits. But they didnt know what he says states with massive amounts of insecurity and 40 percent of restaurant workers aged 24 the 60 percent above the age of 24 are largely working adults and children feeding kids on 213 and fourdollar wages prior to the pandemic. The inability to access unemployment in many cases tips were unreported but in many cases by employers. One in michigan a single mother told us that reported my tips religiously every year but because my employer did not my age of 3. 52 was too low in the state i could not qualify then i tried for the federal 600 and i was told that was eligible and when they finally did access and it ended. For what i want to emphasize is that and those are the same customers that are supposed to get tips and that is a direct contradiction last incentivize employers that are doing the right thing and moving away from that system and to change that Service Charge of the tax code for minimum wage. I a call for beach orlando door lens on the day tourist areas like willow beach i have 1700 restaurants maybe the highest per capita anywhere in the country. We all knew that struggle very well. That was for because they are the most effective industry with the extension of the ppe program a democrats voted against it with a motion we made on wednesday attached to a bowl. But the truth is i have offered tax credits 50 percent of the cost to make the workplace save included in the Senate Package from dropping a bill today on monday and tuesday and wednesday at 13. And to do everything to hold the Restaurant Industry but your help is being held up by leadership. There are two things in the relief package unless they get those things in our bailout for state and local governments so that they can reinstate the deductibility of state and local taxes. Go to the top go to people and top 1 . Those issues are what sold this negotiation. We couldve already resolved this, passed the Senate Package and deliver to the health to you yesterday as you said, the line in the sand for them is going to cost almost 2 trillion to reinstate the state and local Tax Deduction and will l help millionaires and billionaires. And to be used as a Pressure Point i think its a shame and i think its a theres nobody republican or democrat on this panel that doesnt recognize and understand you need to sell and we all want to deliver it to you. The question is whatransom are we going to have to pay to get that to you . The state and local tax payout and disability to write off state and local taxes so folks, im with you. Im putting up every bill i know to try to help you. We offered bill after bill as republicans on the floor that have been uniformly rejected. What house leadership is saying, what the leadership on the other side is saying is we wont let you deliver that help unless you give us those bailouts. So i am incrediblyfrustrated by this. It hurts my district perhaps more than any other district. You youre right, Mister Bernstein it should have been delivered yesterday. Weve got to make these workplaces safe so people can go back to work but guys, lets stop the ruse and lets move ahead with this help to stop trying to ransom these people to help millionaires and billionaires the gentlemens time has expired. Mister doggett your recognized for five minutes. Mister doggett. Mister chairman, thank you very much. I appreciate your holding this hearing. We know help was on the way for this industry and many others 4 months ago, may 15 when the house passed legislation to address this pandemic and tragically, the Senate Following the example of President Trump in declaring the virus would just go away like a miracle here in the middle of the summer months did nothing. They did nothing for 2 months. They sat on their hands. They failed to respond. They offered no alternatives. They refused to negotiate in any way and more or less that same spirit has prevailed in the two months that have transpired since the first senate bill finally came out. I as mister rice knows happened to share his view about the provision on state and local taxes for a full repeal but i think that has verylittle to do with where we are today. On the contrary, our position today has been to try to provide some relief and negotiate in good faith much of the state and local assistance of which he complains is very important and ive found that in the communities that i represent and i think this is true across the country that providing assistance to local governments often allows them to reach out and fill in gaps that are federal legislation is not addressed to come up with creative ways to support restaurants in my community, the Music Industry which is so important since we modestly claim to bethe live music capital of the world in austin. Two creative ways to assess those local workers local businesses to survive. Obviously, in the communities i represent, restaurants just play a truly vital role in providing community spirit. And in providing employment and most importantly in providing good food. I have seen estimates in the state of texas that were going to lose half of our restaurants if we dont get some relief within the next six months. I have seen it already begun to happen in my community. In austin, reveals, a place famous for performances by janis joplin and other musicians in the past shut down permanently. Magnolia losing one of its majorlocations. In san antonio, angels mexican even, great texmex food on the east side anticipates they will never reopen in the same is true of a number of other establishments. I think it is vital that we get assistance. I have seen the efforts of local restaurants like joes bakery. Like the asian market is headed by eric e. To try to survive with takeout. They have struggled because they dont always have the connections permitted easy access to ppe which may have been a good concept initially in the first round seemed to have a lot more to help the folks that were wellconnected rather than those that werethe most in need. We finally got assistance in the second round with business down 50 percent with the cost of takeout higher than instore service, its a real challenge. And it is of course the restaurant workers that we have to be equallyconcerned about. Ive been trouble in the past that so often when there was a measure before the congress , whether it was sick leave for workers or healthcare for workers or childcare for workers, or raising the minimum wage, the National Restaurant association was one of the first groupsto oppose the provision. Im pleased that last year , the house adopted the race the wage act which would raise the sum minimum wage or to workers over time to the level of the general minimum wage. And i think the watchword as we go forward is that we got to do this together. We need to protect our restaurants from closing but we also need to address the specific needs of the workers within those restaurants and see that they are treated fairly. Assistance isconditional. I particularly appreciate the efforts that our colleagues senator Earl Blumenauer has made with his restaurant that. And it is so disappointing that despite all the talk about supporting the Restaurant Industry from the great republican colleagues that there is nothing in the new Ginny Mcconnell bill that physically addresses the needs of the Restaurant Industry. I thank you. Mister schweikert your recognized for five minutes. Mister chairman and as we all most of our communities when you have scottsdale as part of your district i think one of the true capitals the country particularly in the winter months, im looking forward to restaurant competition. I actually have a couple of questions and also would like to get some input because thats what a hearing truly should be about and less speechifying. With an extension of the ppe navy another round of that, would that provide. I have a piece of legislation with my colleagues on the committee that would provide a tax credit for testing. As well as ppt or personal protective equipment and do the task to write off to the payroll so it would be a quick turnaround of adding the capital pay for those things. But one question i really want to get my head around and mister ross, im going to start with you. After the pandemic, lets say Congress Steps up and we do things to help restaurants and other Small Businesses through this. Whats the future look like . As the migration to meals going out the door. If the futurea , is this going to change employment curve on restaurants . For many of us i started as a dishwasher is one of my first jobs. At one of the ways i paid my way through school so can you share with us what the future and are we doing the right thing and how we will address providing if we get together a backstop so others that is a great question you ive seen the future is very bright for us, including full serve. The reality is restaurants are an integral part of our society. They are the cornerstone of communities. Not just because theyre literally on every corner because people join together to share experiences and to be a part of one anothers lives. You cant get that just threw takeout. You get stuff through takeout and delivery but we are already seeing it, albeit in limited demand right now because we have limited capacity that arechallenging us. And we also have limited demand there are those who are calling us literally tell me they want to come back there continued, they continue to hear the fear that out there. And so i think thats a future for restaurants is really quite part of my question is also the way food has delivered change maybe its a noble at this point. Misshalf. Thank you for being here. I remember these and three coming from a family of foodies, thats one of our hobbies is watching what was your business rightnow , your blind goes restaurant . How much is it going out the door and shall we say pickup and delivery and is that, how is that helping in sustaining you . Im trying to get my head around what does the business look like what does the profitability looklike when your pickup and delivery . Thank you for thatquestion. Before the pandemic, our, we were starting to see prime over 80,000 a month and thats great for a small stall like mine. Right after, we started closing down as we had to do pickup and delivery. In the month of may our revenue was 7600. That is 90 percent drop. The delivery has somewhat helped sustain what i dont think it can be for the longterm necessarily unless we are able to eventually open back up once this pandemic is moreunder control. Particularly its because a lot of the delivery aspects do take 30 percent. At the end of the day thats very much digging into Profit Margins. So were doing it now because its helping to keep the business alive but in the long term i think its not necessarily completely sustainable but we are slowly in texas seeing the traffic more back in the restaurants as recently, Governor Abbott allowed this increase in capacity at 75 percent although theres not i necessarily that much traffic as people are still quite frankly staying at home and self quarantining. But there is a little bit more traffic and that is i think what we need in the long run is that social aspect and its just kind of a challenge to be in this strange atmosphere where we are trying to socially distance. Mister chairman, sorry. I believe many of us are comfortable with the restaurant act design thats in the senate and im hoping we as a committee could step up and try to find a way to get this move forward. Mister larson your recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman and thank you for holding this hearing and id like to associate myself with the remarks of Mister Doggett and our colleague Earl Blumenauer who certainly has led on this issue. I want our colleagues on the other side to know that we share your frustration. Now imagine being in a body at the house of representatives and having sent over 500 bills, 500 that the senate has never acted on. More than 70 percent of them bipartisan adopted. You talk about frustration. That is thoroughly frustrating. And let us hope that we can change that in the future but also Mister Schweikert left but i think these hearings should be about asking questions as well and mayor dyer is state and local Property Tax Relief helpful to you or is this something that you think is extraneous and shouldnt be included as part of this pandemic that has impacted everybody across the board,not just in this country but around the globe. Is going to have a lasting effect on the revenues for local governments. The decrease in revenues and then added expenditures related to testing and all things. Were not in as bad a position as a lot of other local governments and State Governments that are heavily reliant onsales tax. We expect anthat we will see more danger in coming years. If commercial profit values decrease. We think that our downtown i mentioned before is about 20 percent occupancy right now so we know rental rates will go down so any type of relief that congress can give local governments and State Governments will help. Mister dyer and we discussed previously in the ways and Means Committee this crisis is having a disproportionate effect on people of color and women specifically. How is protecting the paychecks of restaurant workers and an effective way to deliver relief to these populations. The industry is disproportionately women and people of color. The 13. 6 million workers in america, a majority are women and thats even higher among workers, 70 percent of them are women. They are disproportionately of color. Close to 45 percent of workers are of color i think its important to note that as much as we celebrate the diversity of this industry in this moment when theres a national all court Racial Equity we can understand the diversity is different from equity. That workers of color are in the industry but it doesnt mean i have the highest paid positions in industry. Are segregated into lower paying restaurant, casual and fast food restaurants. There segregated into lower paying positions. I work as busters and wonders and dishwashers rather than as workers and busters in fine dining and the differential is enormous. It at least a five dollars per hour wage between black women and white men in this industry as a result of segregation. As a result of historical legacies of slavery and as a result of customer biases including. As a result, any efforts, any support for restaurant workers, pge as a disproportionately higher impact on workers of color because rathey have less savings. I have less ability to turn to family and friends for support. They are more likely to be home and food insecure and they are also much more likely to have family members impacted by the pandemic and chairman thompson, i wanted to know if it would be okay to enter into the record the testimony of kim on a hill was a restaurant worker who to share his story today and also Restaurant Owner jason emil of lula cafc in chicago been supportive of workers. Those two testimonies. Without question we can do that. I wanted to share to answer your question the story of hill, if i could because we have limited time i want to make sure we had an opportunity to ask Mister Sandoval question. What i do thank you and we will take whatever question you have further answer and departing with the chairmans position i wanted to acknowledge a number of the restaurants clearly in my district as well and there are twovoluminous dimension , my name certainly i want to single out, i greatly appreciate you sharing your story with the committee during your testimony you mentioned how since your 600 expired and Unemployment Insurance as help you get through thisyear ,. Your recognized for five minutes. You may have on you. There you go. Thank you mister chairman people are Witnesses Today or sharing the impact of the pandemic is having on the sector and communities across the country. I want to quickly share what restaurants in my communities other in california have told me. Though many of these Small Businesses want to do right by their employees and customers and sandra hahn who is the owner of crates and plates shared with me the lack of communication and coordination from the federal government is making things literally impossible. She is continually trying to piece together safety and Financial Guidance while fighting to keep her doors open and there just arent enough hours in the day for her toget , to do all those things. Cdc guidance has been slow or just plain confusing. A patchwork of local recommendations tried to fill in the gap. Masks have become apolitical issue at another burden on her employees are trying to enforce basic safety protocols to keep themselves and the patrons safe. Then there are the obvious costs of ppe, sanitation and training so employees know how to follow the safety procedures plus mounting new cost to outfit dining spaces, to beautify parking lots for streets to entice customers to come and i didnt even get into the added impact from wildfires that had been mentioned today. These costs add up quickly. Especially for Small Businesses who ate through their ppp loans, simply making sure their staff can keep food on their own table. Turning to our panelists today mayor dyer, your comments about taking a walk through your community to hear stories of people who put everything they had into their business at home for me because i do these Small Business walks through my district as well tand restaurants are the heart of a vibrant community and they often lead to the revitalization of a distressed area. I appreciate you talk about the provisions needed to help these businesses stay afloat and keep employing our friends and neighbors and chairman thompson touched briefly on this but im hoping you could comment further on the next crisis you are likely facing which is a budget shortfall for your city. My own cities have painted a grim picture of revenue shortfalls that will affect schools, Public Safety and countless community programs. Im curious to know what does that look like for you . Were in, where a 300,000 person city in a 1. 4 million county. The county is more reliant on sales tax are terse Development Tax which last year was about 300 million and is probably five percent of that in collection area so that has been a very substantial impact thats more on the county government then it is the City Government. We are more reliant on operative taxes and those rates were set prior to the pandemic. So were probably going to be okay this year. Next year that were deeply concerned about because we think that the commercial or the values of commercial property is going to be impacted substantially because peopleare not coming to the office , restaurants are closing. All those types of establishments so we think next year is the year were going to be getting some serious revenue shortfalls. If you were in a jurisdiction that relied on those sales tax revenues or funding of city services, and those have been decimated because of the stayathome orders, because this pandemic has been allowed to wage on, what with that do impact restaurants. In terms of lack of data and local government. It would be like i think the same for restaurants in any other Small Business. If youre a city that is relying on sales tax, youre going to have to cut services whether thats garbage, whether that police and fire. Utbut services because in a dire economic time like this, theres no way you can raise taxes on your citizens. So theres no other choice. Thank you and without funding for state and local governments what was included in the house euros back, local budgets across the country will be gutted at the time when people need those local support more than ever. Mister sandoval i want to thank you for your story, what youve been through and what you have fought for not just yourself but your workers. Could you talk a bit more about how your unions efforts to ensure a return to workordinance is going . Were working on that still but return to work cornet, its going to be for union and nonunion workers so if business shutdown, you have the right to return. When the business resumes and get back to normal. And you go back to seniority, it might be at the whim of that employers will, whatever he wants to bring that. Though its going to, i think its coming up on the calendar in october. With the county commission. So im hoping it goes through because as of now within six months since ive been back at work. My rico right now expired so iam at the mercy of the company. Mister sandoval, the gentlemans time is expired. Thank you Mister Sandoval and all are witnesses. Your recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman for this hearing today and let me acknowledge and thank all the witnesses for your valuable testimony today. On this important topic related to restaurants and what we need to be doing. Looking back to the spring when we passed the ppe program, as part of the stimulus really, its probably the best thing that we did in terms of helping the economy. It was a lifeline in my idistrict to Small Businesses whether those are restaurants and bars or manufacturers. And we did it in a bipartisan way and its beenimmensely successful. And i think the frustrating part and everybody on this column has expressed it on why we cant do that again. Why we cant have some type of revised reform ppp type program and i look at businesses that continue to struggle and will continue to struggle until we get a vaccine or a cure or a treatment. And i know many of my colleagues hear the same thing but i atlook at the Hospitality Industry area travel industry, lobbying industry, gyms andworkout facilities , banquet facilities. Music venues and of course restaurants and everybody has articulated today. But these are all entities that will not combine come back fully until we geta cure or a vaccine or treatment. The hedge factor is why we cant come together to have a revised ppp program but that helps your industry and all these other industries. And do that in a type of loan program that extends out the next 6 to 9 months and i look at my state of illinois and see that many of these restaurants and other entities are not going to make it the next 6 to 9 months through the winter. And through the time that is ahead. So whywe cant come together again with something we already did in the spring and set a formula on how this can work. But i know thats what the hearing today is about to put politics aside and do this for the betterment ofthe Restaurant Industry and the country on this. And as weve seen with the number of unknown pieces of legislation, we want to scale it down and look at whats most important. And the Restaurant Industry and the Small Businesses in these disproportionately affected businesses are targeted businesses, however you want to look at it, thats what we ought to be focused on and unfortunately you look at how many other things get added to these bills, i for one believe we ought to prioritize what i just mentioned and we put that on the floor, we will pass overwhelmingly. It will pass the senate in my view. So thats focus on that and try to do that here in the next week while we have time to pull the election to do it and ill be supportive ofthat moving forward. I want to move to a couple of questions here. No, iwanted to ask you. Weve heard a lot about the safety and Public Health of workers in the Restaurant Industry and obviously, different states have different policies. The state of illinois has been very frustrated with our governor, we had a onesizefitsallapproach to the state. The area i represent in illinois is a rural area mediumsized city. The governor had a conscious for the entire state and the concern for health and safety is first and foremost. Can you talk a little bit about the different states andrestrictive policies that have been put in place and how that affected the Restaurant Industry and any suggestions you would have du one that. Thank you congressman and first and foremost i appreciate your thoughts on ppe. Another round would bea lifeline or many businesses. Specific to your question on the policies of different states, its been difficult to navigate. Here in new orleans, the mayor has taken a different tack and the governor both have valid approaches but theyre different. Andso it has created a lot of confusion and difficulty or operators. And if you think about it in the context of every business has the certainty that they have four operations is what they need. When theres uncertainty because you dont know what the policies going to be or what the restriction is going to be and where not osgetting those in advance, then it just puts the bill towards it. Everyones embraced the ppe and everyone is taking it extremely seriously as operators. Enhanced protocols, both are positive, then we got net and i think theres good communication on and a general theme on how to attack that area but capacities and larger gatherings when it comes to receptions. For peoples weddings and things of that nature which are huge. The gentlemens time has expired. Ms. Mulvaney your recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman and i want to thank all of our witnesses are joining us for this veryimportant hearing. The pandemic has made this an incredibly difficult time for everyone in our communities and for restaurants in particular. And i know that many of the restaurant that ive heard from in my region are small familyowned businesses. Some who been forced to shudder. Everything they worked so hard to achieve and Restaurant Owners who been in business over 30 years have bought their way through several financial crisis are saying they dont know how theyre going to make it through this recession. Its truly heartbreaking and we as democrats put Additional Resources towards restaurants in the heroes act and one important provision wasthe expansion of the Employee Retention tax credit or the jobs credit. We also worked on another round of impact payments and repair and refundable tax credits that could help families and workers who are struggling but thats still legislation unfortunately the senate hasnt looked at. Miss bernstein, i want to thank you for taking time to be with us here today. And also from the west coast and i know that in addition to dealing with the pandemic, the west coast was also hit hard with wildfires and poor air quality and i know the airquality shutdown Outdoor Dining easily. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about how nithe expanded Employee Retention tax credits which would also be paired with a 50 percent credit or operational costs could better position you and your workers as you prepare for the winter and Colder Weather conditions in your region as we know there may not be sufficient indoor space that can see people safely distanced and in accordance with state guidelines. We have to be prepared for that change as it comes forward so your thoughts on what we can do to help you there and the Employee Retention tax credit expansion. I guess the question that i would have on the tax retention is that if im not able to employ anyone because i dont have any place to operate, how do i get that credit . I dont think i understand that part but we just need help wherever. I dont know that weregoing to be able to open this winter. Im just going to be sitting on paying a small amount of salary people, probably that i am going to need and paying rent and fixed costs that are there but to go business, its not going to cover. I could use 10 people versus 80 people. So im not quite sure honestly how that would help but i know anything would help. And im wondering. The employee tax credit retention, it would help cover payroll so that you were able to put your resources in other areas and keep people connected to their jobs and benefits. I also wanted to ask you what are some of the challenges that you face with the paycheckProtection Program and any concerns you have about forgiving ability of the loans. We are in the forgiving ability state right now. And had, had not changed i wish some of the restrictions had changed a month or six weeks prior to when they did. Because we have spent so much of that money trying to make sure that we had hundred fulltime people. Our headcount where it was. So we spent money and time where we want open. Because we had to and we knew that we couldnt afford to be paying back huge amounts of moneyback. If we work for given. So completely grateful that we got where we did but were trying to get back at the same exact place we were prior to the original ppp. Were just looking at how were going to get through the next month. How were going to keep people on, especially concerned without the extra 600 for team members if we cant put them to work and they cant get extrabenefits , i worry. I worry. Every day. I havent taken a salary since march and thats just ryto keep money into my business to do whatever i can to thestaff that i have there. I dont know if that answers that. Thank you so much for your feedback, i appreciate it an ideal back mister chairman. Thanks to the gentlelady. Mister moore, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you so very much mister chairman. You for this committee, subCommittee Hearing. And i just want to join everyone in really morning the loss ofso many of our very important Small Businesses. Throughout the United States and recognizing the burden this puts on. I really, im driven by testimony from all our witnesses about the very small margins restaurants work on. Even under the best of circumstances and the amount of time and energy and quite frankly love people have put into this venture. So given that i just want to address follow linux opened up. When he talked about, its very offtopic but they just keep talking about this state sustainability. Of the restaurants. And the industry. I think we dont have to, you cant just be concerned about the extensive tax credits. Ppd, the enjoymentretention tax credit. You dont have to be concerned about the health of our workers as well. I was by Mister Sandoval total testimony where he talked about the cost of a for cobra and healthcare. And so i just want to correct reality give maybe mister rodrigue. An opportunity to say, because i looked at your blueprints. I think its very very good and very important i think what you agree its really important to take that particular vision for state and restaurants and whos providing more Unemployment Insurance for people who cant come back. People have to be present cassidy, 50 percent workers were still at home and the so its not offtopic, i guess i just want to affirmation an agreement for you that course, thats a part of saving the industry. Thank you congressman. I would say thats certainly true. Unemployment benefits are an important factor and i think that we would employ you to find a balance solution. The challenge in front of us is that the demand is not totally there. So we certainly want to help our employees. Was fully responsive and i want to say before my time expires that i have a bill that i welcome all of my members to look at rid its not outside the jurisdiction of the entire committee thats a bill to support families during crises like this. Weve seen katrina. We have seen this hand. Theres no indication of wildfires, theres no suggestion that were going to not have the emergency disrupt employability. So Restaurant Industry is the most vulnerable as you indicated so i guess i want to ask the young woman, miss sonu about the minimum wage. I guess my question to you in my last few seconds is to the extent that we dont want to necessarily transfer all the reliability for having an economic Sustainable Business in the Restaurant Industry, would you agree that things like raising the minimum wage providing more robust earned income tax credit, might be ways to help this industry outside of, and if we raise the minimumwage , we can definitely raise peoples Living Standards and i guess i just want to give you my last few seconds to comment on that. Thank you. Its not been me who agrees with that, its not just hundreds of thousands of workers who are calling for that. There are literally at this point hundreds if not thousands of employers come together with us to say this is the time. This is the time when were rethinking every aspect of our business to restructure compensation in our industry, even the National Restaurant associations own trade magazine , it hasnt by last friday was the pandemic is forcing the industry to rethink creditand wages. Everybody is rethinking the fact that we have a two dollar wage clearly didnt work. We cant go back there to the day before the pandemic and with that i would yield back mister chairman. The gentle lady time has expired. Mistererickson, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman. A real quick on the last point, theres this list of well intended policies my friend that will help. [inaudible] when the government mandates closure, and it mandates that you have to buy, you just couldnt put a boot on their and then asking why dont you guys these. When these people are creating this land of opportunity and people losing their lives, it doesnt make any sense to me. I am grateful that what im hearing is that nobody been told in the standard. More than Small Businesses and mainly restaurants, and missed broadly, i married into a new orleans family. Im a lucky texan. And my inlaws myers have taken the laws,its unbelievable. You know , theres a gallup law that same rockefeller oysters and all these things i wonder we dont need much seafood. But you guys represent what restaurants me to our citizens in and to our families and its a treat from the stresses of everyday life and weve made our best memories. So restaurants are more than just food and good dining and service. Its a big part of our greatest memories and one thing weve got to do, this gentleman has done the right thing to delegate these calls to the same local government. Weve got to stop with these mandates that are keeping folks from making a living, not just food on the table but food on their families table. And the other issue of Unemployment Insurance. We want to help everybody and we want to provide assistance for the community and whether that is pension systems or work systems but what we dont want to do is have well intended policies that actually work as a reversion center for you to come back and i think when were paying people in my business , we had 75 percent of the folks on unemployment who are being paid more. Then than to be at the job prior to they had closing so my restaurant workers in my Small Businesses are saying please , find a better way to help individuals and their families in this perversion center structured in 600 a week on Unemployment Insurance. Tell me about that from your perspective read out of the hopefuls without hurting your chances and those you represent and restaurants. Of coming back, that 40 percent for some 200,000 restaurants closed. On account of government making it difficult. Can you comment on thatfor me please . Thank you punishment. That was my point a momentago. We need to help the employees we need to find a balanced way because when were trying to get employees to come back. In a difficult spot when their incentivized not to be there so finding the right balance i implore you all to do that. In reference to the restaurant closures,weve had over 100,000 close. And weve got 40 percent of operators on a very large survey. Tell us if we dont do something now. Before this election. 40 percent say they cannot survive the next six months without some additional form of federal aid. You all acted so quickly when it came to ptt, im very appreciative of that. We need action again cause without it, withoutthat lifeline , restaurants are going to be able to reopen that we love the longterm solution of an industry Restaurant Recovery Fund and the National Restaurant association was the first ntto promote that way back in march we are. The germans time is expired. Mister doyle, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you mister chairman, i think you can hear me okay. Breaks, thank you and thank you for holding this hearing on such an important issue. I want to use my five minutes to focus on my district. My constituents. Here in the city of philadelphia. And in the last few decades as many of you know philadelphia has become known for its robustvibrant food scene. The food scene in fact not only attracts tourists but even new residents to the city. So in the case of philadelphia is not just about helping Business Owners and employees, its about helping the entire community. There were 6500 food related businesses that operate in Philadelphia Free candidate representing 18 percent of the citys businesses. More than 86 percent of the businesses are small operations employing fewer than 20 people. And play 16 a food economy locally contributed 66 million and wage tax revenues to the city. At four percent of the citys entire revenue. So in addition to the citys lost revenue, is also loss is the amount of money has to be on the Public Health response area so its really a drop in revenue combined with of course the increase in expenses. We share a few of the stories from Restaurant Owners, whats happening in the city because theyre the most eloquent voices on this topic and no more about it more than anyone. Tyler aiken is several restaurants in the city. Due to the pandemic he was permanently, forced to permanently close one restaurant yesterday and says without any assistance from the government you will have to close allhis restaurants in philadelphia. Pronghorn, someone i know personally, here are his words. Prior to covid i was slated to open a new brunch last Coffee Concept in february in philadelphia called the guardhouse. Covid cost us to stop our buildout. We are now pushed to late october with construction during backup. Once we open i will have to navigate our approach in terms of indoor dining. We may have to get creative with delivery only and just our hours of optimizedrevenue. We also have had to lose new hires who have yet to start working vebut we are counting on us to open. The Restaurant Owners from its cities and say thatstrong , they strongly support the restaurant, additional rounds of ppd and expanding and improving the idl. They say hes issues are lifeanddeath for most restaurants. Especially if they had into the older winter months and the loss of outdoor seating. So the chairman thompson i ask unanimous consent to have entered into the record statement from Restaurant Owner board, a statement from Restaurant Owners of his city bench, a restaurant from a restaurants, a letter from tom yo, order of orange brewery, testimony from a distillery owner and great entrepreneur rob casale and statements from Union Transfer worldcafc live warehouse on watts. On music venues in philadelphia. Without objection so order. Let me in the time i have remaining i wanted to touch on and you can tell by the latter statement that i asked to be entered i like to touch on the breweries, distilleries and music venues in philadelphia. The them and they are struggling to remain open and solvents during this had. Which obviously is throughno fault of their own. They offer great value to life here in philadelphia. A. But even beyond the sort of what they bring to our culture, just in terms of dollars and cents, this is a significant part of our economy. So let me ask to mrs. Miss jayaram on, do you think the pandemic will lead to better compensation and support for the Service Industry employees given that we now recognize in a new way just how valuable they are. Maybe realizing that now more so than they did prepandemic and what specifically do you think thomas can do to help them. Thank you so much. Again we reveal the compatibility of compensation structure. Selenium is 2. 83. Its one of minimum wage for workers, if one of 43 states with this way is completely untenable and is real to me so the and we are seeing literally hundreds of restaurants change practices on their own voluntarily because frankly they cant get their workers to come back. Workers are saying i dont want to go back and expose my family and myself to the virus 42 wage or three dollar wage. Vitamins time is expired. Mister dyer, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much. I especially want to thank professor jayaram on for her testimony. Its the most compelling party ive heard yet about the immorality of this minimum wage. Thanks chairman thompson for holding this important hearing. I know many restaurant tours who are watching this hearing like my friend michael mike of shooter movies in alexandria are hoping to hear that the federal government will give them the aid they need as we continue to keep our communities safe area my wife and i to walk the streets of old town alexandria, restaurant after restaurant. And either closed or with the tables out in the middle of the street. We cant let them down and thats why i support my dear friend Earl Blumenauers restaurant. As well as the critical provisions in the heroes like expanded erc and the pain relief provisions that would allow restaurant workers to stay home. Give this industry employees and our communities that rely on them a necessary lifeline. Some restaurants are sadly not all have been able to make it to this point by providing takeout business or service. We seem to do the Service Every night and we try not to use the Delivery Service only because of that 30 percent. But as temperatures drop, combined with the possibility of increasing caseloads , we see a stubborn five percent Positivity Rate federal support becomes necessary every day by day. If restaurant topical industry, theres so many others rely on npr tc, the restart but merely testimonials on constituents that have said to me restaurant workers in alexandria wrote farmworkers were struggling before this crisis hit. Now even worse. Most of us are sounemployed and underemployed. On top of that most of us do not have access to basic day. Theyre calling on you to show leadership in this unprecedented time and provide more relief to all restaurant workers. Federal lawmakers need to pass the heroes and include a second stimulus check within the bill and this from our troops, an independent Restaurant Owner, i can tell you our Industry Needs meaningful relief to survive the coronavirus pandemic read the Restaurant Industry has faced unparalleled challenges that have hit independent restaurants and having a Small Businessis the hardest. In your hometown restaurants where you gather with friends and colleagues are the cornerstones of our communities. While the care will provide relief , it doesnt address the real needs of restaurants and it heavily dependent on cash flow and nonprofit organizations have been raised in area we need belief that meets the needs of our industry and its the second largest private sector employer both locally and nationally. There is uncertainty about the impact on our culture especially on independent restaurants that are the epicenter of Community Gatherings and social activity so miss on , do you feel qualified receiving ppe loans because clearly they are not enough to sustain your businesses and employees for the Long Duration of this pandemic. What changes from the cares and ppp do you view as necessary or the continued viability ofyour restaurants or in other words , what do you need right nowthat will allow you to get through . Is that for me or for christine . Why dont you start. I just looking ahead, i think theres a lot of valuable substance in the ppp that would help us people paid and keep our operating expenses moving. Its hard to know are going to the inside or outside, we are not outside where we are 25 percent or 50 percent so the numbers are moving allthe time. And yes, ill give it to christine. I think initially my restaurant we didnt get the first round of funding. Wehad to reapply and we didnt get it in the second round. Being able to expand the Program Meeting i think less restrictions on it, we also need help with operating costs. We are Restaurant Industry so were Holding Inventory that is food can quickly goback. We need with paying for ppe, putting up. A glass to protect our staff and the guests. I think if there was an expansion on the restrictions on such federal aid to help us do other things that required us to operate the businessthat would be helpful. The gentlemens time has expired. Mister kelly recognizedfor five minutes. Mister tilley, are you with us. We will come back to mister tilley. Mister swansea, youre recognized for fiveminutes. Sorry to jump over you mike. You can hear me. Yes. You for pulling this together. Id like to submit for the record a letter from the Us Travel Association and ill get it submitted to your team is talking about how the Unemployment Rate is 30. 5 percent is a National Average of 8. 4 percent and how they areaffected by the downturn. Without objection, such will be the order. Holiness is r. Mayor dyer, im a former mayor myself and i can just imagine how frustrating it is for you when you have or your local residents coming to you you dont have the power to fix this problem. This is anational problem that requires the government self. And my heart goes out to you because i know you care about your people. And sonia bernstein, thank you so much. It was so inspiring to listen to you when you talk about what joy you get from serving people like that christine on, same thing. I want you to know that when you were speaking i was listening to you and looking at the faces of my colleagues and people were smiling listening to your story. And everything you sharedwith us and Mario Sandoval , thank you for making it clear that this is not just about the businesses which are so important but its about the workers and there are so many people unemployed right now and the Unemployment Rate amongst restaurant workers is higher than any other industry in the country about and especially the catering area thats 8000 restaurants in catering on long island, hundred drthousand people involved in employment and the reaction to the coronavirus has been so uneven. Right now Grocery Stores are doing great. Online businesses are doing great. Some restaurants have a lot of outdoor capacity and theyre doing pretty well. Takeout business is doing well but other places dont have outdoor facilities. People are afraid to go indoors and some places have oo her sections on going indoors so uneven and its so unfair and its so frustrating here in washington when we know we have to do something and were not getting it done. And i want to associate myself with all my colleagues remarked, everything everybody had to say except for mister right, mister rices remarksbecause theyre so divisive and so inappropriate. I think we need to figure out how we can get those together and i want to thank Mister Rodriguez or simply being here today as well and ask him some qquestions if i may Mister Rodriguez. Are you theredenmark. Yes, sir. How many restaurantswould you say that are in the United States . Ice tea someplace where theres565,000, a sense of how data are america . Food Service Establishments are in the millions right now. How many people were employed in the Restaurant Catering business before . 15. 1 million. What was theUnemployment Rate now among the Restaurant Business . Right now we have 7 million. Think about that, 7 million of 15 million, 15 percent of people are unemployed and the rate nationwide is 8. 5 percent. This is just a devastating impact on this industry. Thats why im so happy. s im cosponsor, original cosponsor with no are on the restaurant tax and hundred 20 billion it provides in grants, outright grants compared to 20 20 revenues and their 2019 revenues and it would be such a godsend for the people that are suffering so much and for those restaurants that are doing fine, their revenues will be as low from 2000 they were in 2020 he really wants to get state and local aid, some people say this is not holding ransom, something absurd like that, your senator was a republican and one of the strongest sponsors of state and local aid, i want to point out in the vice chairman of the problem solvers caucus, 25 democrats and republicans trying to find Common Ground and we have 25 republicans to agree that we have 500 billion in state and local aid, we have 25 democrats would agree we need to do liability reform, mr. Rodrigue, woody think the most important thing we need to do, is that the ppp. The gentlemans time has expired. Were gonna go back to mr. Kelly, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you chairman, we are having trouble getting on muted. First of all he just said listening to your testimony and listening to the faces, that is one of the most inspirational Panel Members ive ever listen to and from the time that your family in vietnam since you came here, you faced an uphill battle every step of the way but you never stopped, you keep going, you are so inspirational, it is incredible sitting with the staff and were looking at each other saying i dont want to hear anybody say how hard theira life has been, you are so inspirational from the very time you left in you came here, its amazing, we all appreciate everybodys presence here today and thank you for having this, i know everyone of us has the same problem, doesnt matter what state or what town you live in, all of you are in the same boat, my families in the retail been antibusiness, thirdgeneration now. We look at what is happening in all the states have the ability to do what they think is best which is responsible and smart, one of the problems that i have, and pennsylvania we are second only to california in the restricted guidance, yes we are number 41 and if you look at all 50 states were number 41 in all cases, is not like we have a lot of cases, then why cant we open up and pennsylvania Governor Wolf has determined you can u be open but you can only have 25 capacity, 25 capacity does not get you anywhere, anybody in the Retail Business or any business at all understand you better be open and worried in order to make these, we work with a small profit margin, it really is one of those things that drives you crazy, our retail sales have down but the cost of operation does not go down, you a still he a high cost of operation with ppp, that helps an awful lot, is just for very short window, the answer to all of this, im interested to see what next week in our package what we think we could do next, for going to prioritize things, must prioritize things, id rather see something and please dont be offended i want a messaging bill that handles the economy and the message that they need to hear, not another message that could what could possibly happen on november 3, i think we wasted a lot of time and people are sick and tired of being sick and tired of what we do, when i look at 175,000 people that the restaurants are shut down and youre talking about great numbers of people that will be unemployed, not until we get a cure for the china flu but forever, they will just not be able to reopen, there is a piece you talk with your piece of problem solvers, i want to look at that but also im on a piece of the restart act with congressman golden and senator young and senator bennett and we have asked the senators on board, their 100 off us on right now, look at the restart act and ask your team to look at it and see if you want to be on it, what it does is provides a loan for six months of operating expenses. It will be forgivable for a much longer payment, because you represent so many people, i gotta tell you all these independent owners, i know how tough it is right now, my business was shut down performance, we were considered a nonessential business which was okay and a great term but for the people that work there they dont like to look at it is not essential. All these different programs that we have has to be an economic package, what would you see that we could do next that would really c be helpful. I truly believe if we can gea a restaurant specific bill passed that would be spectacular we support the Senate Version of restaurants act because of the inclusiveness but we need any lifeline that can be given to us at this point, there are soo may andd dire need and we are runnig out of time, another round of ppp would be great and with similar restrictions or parameters also lost, your resourcece program will be spectacular as well, anything that can give us an opportunity to be capitalized to bring people back to work and give us staying power to appoint and time where they are where they need to be in a safe fashion for employees and customers and is going to take all theel help tht we can get, we will definitely ousupport your program. That is great, thank you for having this hearing and lets try to get together to help these folks. They give very much a gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Davis, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman although im not a member of this committee let me thank you for giving me the opportunity i think all of us agree the Restaurant Industry is one of the hardest hit industries and a result of the economic crisis that we face, the workers, owners, suppliers, everybody, all have actually lost in enclosing in chicago where i live, restaurants had the entire owmmunities and especially my district i represent downtown chicago, you dont come to chicago and not go to the loop to see what the restaurants are like and to have a meal, i represent chinatown, week town, old town, oak park, riverpark, all of these communities are restaurant known, people go to them specifically to engage in their restaurants so the restaurants are absolutely essential, the traditional is basically wiped out the wallet of catfish opponent, it is Just Announced they are going to close so brownsville your training in the village,an restaurant places restaurants that make minimum wage now have no wage. They have no other place to turn but to the government where else can they go. They dont have savings, stocks, 401ks and as professor indicated and mentioned, one young worker from chicago was paid in cash which both lessen his takehome pay and excluded him from Unemployment Benefits. Of course im a close sponsor of earl bloom and iris restaurant enthusiastically cosponsor it, the house has passed critical policies to help restaurants and workers over for month ago. They enhanced Employee Retention tax credit, new economic payments, expanded paid family and medical leave and critical childcare tax credits. That Republican Senate leadership helps restaurants and workers professor, your testimony spoke about the particular vulnerability of restaurant workers, given their history of poor wages and lack of benefits. Can you speak about the policies that would be most helpful to work in thehe immediate future d can you articulate thank you, congressman, come on a hill as a restaurant worker who is paid a few dollars in tips and cash and she still working at the same restaurant, 12 hour shifts and was it able to act on unemployment insuran insurance, fighting everyday with customers to wear masks and then not getting tips as a result in august why he was at work, it was an africanamerican man, chicago and has been hardhit by the coronavirus and without access to healthcare and support, he was not able to help his mother, the thing is, he is crazy in the horrific stories are not going unnoticed by employers and when you ask what can be done, itre is great when you think about saving restaurants for the restaurant act and tax credit, i hope you are thinking about and many of you have spoken about this how we can come together and think about both employers and workers needs and for workers we applaud the wage act and we need that to become federal law so people are paid 2 an hour passing 600 we need more than that, there is more that they could do together particularly for tax credits doing the right thing right now. The gentlemans time is expired. [inaudible] you are recognized survived minutes. Thank you i would like to address these questions to christine, christine your story is truly inspirational and im thinking not only as a member of the ways and Means Committee but also as a member of a Small Business committee and also as chair of the congressional Asian Pacific american caucus. With your restaurant, you have been able to take people to a culturally diverse cuisine, your womanowned business and your blind, yet you have gotten the words galore, it is frankly y,utterly amazing and so as a member of the house Small Business committee, i would like to ask, i am a Member Impact chair of the house subcommittee and oversight in the Small Business committee, were dedicated to finding a solution for smallll businesses and alsof course for restaurants to survive in this pandemic, i heard from countless Small Businesses who struggle to secure relief in the midst of the pandemic crushing their livelihood and we take that feedback to improve the process from getting the financial help that are Small Businesses need, they talk about big banks and suddenly became unresponsive after years of businesses dealing with them and technical errors that cause business to refile the application, these kinds of barriers prevent them from accessing the relief that congress intended, i noticed with interest in your testimony that you said you applied forli ten financial elite programs but only received two, can you talk about your experience in applying for these programs and what happened, which programs were the most frustrating to fply to, did you have toch reah out to multiple banks to find a lender that was willing to accept your application and were you able to receive a distance from the Small Business administration such as Economic Injury disaster and Grant Program they want to give you money straight out, im wondering what your process was into securing financing for your restaurant. Thank youts congresswoman i will go back initially to the federal relief programs when they were out, we did apply in initially that was a confusing process where i think the website was crashing and we were not able to logon so i missed out on that initial round, the ppp similar, the application process was very cumbersome, i reached out following the rules to the bank that we were being cannot and did not hear back for a long time i was hearing from others that i know that they said just apply to anything, we were applying to multiple banks and denied by many of them because a minority initially apply to our first bank, fortunately in the second round of funding we did receive the knockoff to the bankk that we bank got in a lender out one of our equipment. We received that and i applied to Grant Programs that i am eligible for being a womanowned business, beingng in texas, i spent a lot of hours doing that and this is just attack on the money to my staff to make sure they can put food on the table, i am not on salary, i dont take any disbursements since we first open, everything is for the business and the staff, the one grant that i received was from the Restaurant Association for 2500 which a large portion we used to get back to the community and provide meals for First Responders and just feeding the county hospitals and clinics and it is to commit to helping others around you so as a community we are fighting for tithe survival together so the process is been difficult there are a lot of rules that are difficult to understand and just as a Business Owner were dealing with making sure our staff is okay, trying to applied for Financial Relief, that has been my personal process and because im visually impaired im using peers with dream leaders often times i have to navigate different applications with the screenreader. Thank you for that, let me ask a question also at the Asian Pacific american caucus, those are those that have to shoulder is enough obit fears that drive customers away, my district in Southern California restores to smear campaign, you experience any of the. I did not but my staff and many who are Asian Americans said that they have experienced that in their own neighborhood are coming into work so i wouldnt say i have directly, our sales did drop and im not sure if its due to covid and not eating out or if we serve primarily asian food and that congresswoman i cannot completely say. The gentlewomans time is expired. Youll recognize. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you for our witnesses for joining us today, the shutdowns, regulations and service tree downturns have impacted the restaurant across the country including those in my district t in kansas in one example an event outside of wichita that is faced unique hardships during the pandemic with the stockers open in december 2019 owners mike and tina formed their entire life saved enough money to open an exceptional country the impact on them was uniquely terrible because they were so new the cures act funding that we passed did not address their specific situation. I worked tirelessly to find ways to assist them during these difficult times, the restaurants in general are facing challenges as well, the month of august 86 of kansas restaurants how the total dollar Sales Volumes were lower than a year ago with sales down an average of 20 . Even more discouraging the 78 say the conditions were worse than august and july. Restaurants that are been used are facing unique challenges which is why we need to work toe bring targeted relief to restaurant employees and owners and unfortunately my democrat colleague with the minimum wages and more regulations. Time and again, we heard from the Budget Office to increase the minimum wage as a direct and damaging effect on employment in the United States. The Restaurant Owners already struggling to navigate up every changing state and local regulations prewe cannot pile federal regulations that are one size based mandates on small sisiness owners. Instead i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pursue Bipartisan Solutions to keepep americans employed in our small and local restaurants open, and august i cosponsored hr 7481, the restart act, this Bipartisan Legislation will provide longterm loans to restaurants, independent music venues and other Small Businesses that operate within the Service Industry. I had the opportunity to throw away a music venue with their firsthand to how the restart act would help them stay in business. This is similar to the paycheck Protection Program to be very effective with the Small Businesses around the country. It meets the unique needs of restaurants to uses for payroll, rent, utilities, ppe and sanitation with real bipartisan solution it is unreasonable to rest is due to a minimum wage hike intake would tax benefits and will ultimately hurt employees, their families, businesses and communities, we should look at solutions that will keep workers employed and knot forcing employees and employers to cut staff even further. I look forward to working with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the legislation that will help American Workers, and local businesses and rebuild our economy. And with that, let me turn to omr. Rodriguez, we heard from other witnesses that minimum wages for restaurant workers is to 4, what is the actual average wage for restaurant workers and can you walk us through the tip credit and how it is to and among wage and standard minimum wage. Yeah congressman, thank you for the opportunity to clarify that, i think there is confusion because there is no one that makes 2. 13 an hour, in the event that someone does not receive gratuity, they were required to make up the difference, there is no one that makes 2. 13 an hour. Antidote a, i will tell you that its an opportunity and i have a young africanamerican lady that has been working with me for nearly 18 years, she began when she was 18 and shes in her mid30s now, add 2. 13 an hour and her gratuity, her total compensation was 103,000, the tip employees in my restaurant last year average well above 40000 a year in total compensation. And its a system that they want and i would say that is not the exception, that is the normal, this employee began as a dishwasher and then begin making salads, them to became a bus or in a bartender for the last five or six years shes been a server and that 2. 13 an hour plus her gratuity her total compensation was over 100,000, this is not the exception, this is the norm, xcin addition to that i would le is a moment of personal privilege to let you know it is the most moving thing about my job that there are dozens of people that meet. Thank you and i yield back. The gentlemans time has expired. , you are recognized for five minutes pgh thank you, mr. Chairman for holding this very important hearing on the staff and restaurant in the Small Businesses restaurants around everywhere are the fabric of our cities and towns and where people need and interact in many other witnesses when Congress First passed the pay checks Protection Program the uptake was pretty significant after the ppp ran dry were still the depth of the pandemic, i know in my own district, michigan, the Fifth District almost 350 restaurants received the ppp loans accounting for almost 10000 deaths, the 10000 jobs that were temporarily saved, michigan phase reopening which is based on science and good data has moved forward with limited Indoor Seating but obviously in michigan unlike other parts of the country the upcoming winter will absolutely put in and to outdoor seating leading to a more stressful future for those restaurants and their workers who have been able to get through because of the modified conditions under which they can remain open. This was heard in the house to pass the heroes act which include several important incentives of the paycheck there has been no action in the senate, this is yet to translate to our main street restaurants. I have heard from a lot of restaurants back home throughout my district that the need is really significant and many of them right now even as we speak on the verge of collapse, theres lots of different pieces of this, i introduced legislation along with mr. Evans from this committee, my relief for main street act would helprc provide the smallest businesses and especially the minority owned businesses in the already established local relief funds and provide more flexible option or small Neighborhood Restaurants to do whats needed to keep the doors open whats needed in michigan is not necessarily what wouldld be required in portland to get through this and we want to create flexibility. The local relief fund that would be delivered not in the context exof the ppp or the loan structure, i think would be particular helpful for Small Businesses reluctant to accept even those generous terms of the ppp loan. Im curious particular for mrs. Bernstein if you could talk about whether or not you been able to access or heard about the restaurants being able to access local relief funds and whether or not that is something you think will be helpful in terms of getting through the really tough times that i a lot of places will see. Thank you for that question, i will say currently im waiting to hear back from the local government grant, it was very enticing because it is agreement in its relief that will be brought immediately to get it, anything when i hear locally whether its state or local or federal aid that is offered that i qualify for my business qualifies for i do apply f for icat and is helpful worried toon grant that we dont have to worry so much about figuring out how to pay it back at it Interest Rate or anything to help us to continue to operate and keep our doors open and our staff is helpful. Thank you so much for your testimony, ms. Springsteen do you have a thought on this. I would just say we generally do not qualify under some of the local grants and opportunities even though i consider us a very Small Business with different components to it, we are excluded because were looked at as a larger business, that has been kind of an issue for us, i just want to state my desire is all about taking care of her team, without our staff they have nothing, we are directing them the best we can to any kind of local opportunity that they can get an organization with things in our community. The gentlemans time is expired. Mr. Avenger recognized for five minutes. Mr. Evans are you still with us . We will skip over to mr. Snyder and come back inde a minute. Thank you, mr. Chairman can you hear me. We can. Thank you i want to think the committee for holding this important hearing, i want to thank the staff are navigating the challenges during these unique times. This committee is discussed throughout the crisis and the challenges facing the country, first of course in the Public Health component in the pandemic the American People from further spread of the disease while we search for a vaccine or treatment. There is a witness discussed with economic challenges as well. Congress passed the cares act and subsequent legislation to help Small Businesses whether the pandemic, and to help the country prepare for research of the fall to pass the heroes act more than four months ago the Senate Continues to drag its feet. Two Small Businesses have face the brunt of this like a restaurant. They are woven into the fabric of her community and remain ever adapted in their attempts to stay afloat throughout the crisis. Many of the restaurants benefited from thepp ppp loan al the while local and state Health Regulations with capacity, for example the local brewery and Restaurant Owner in my districte told me in my office how the efforts Congress Took in the spring help them in the summer and not nearly enough to get them through the winter, unexpectedly cool weather earlier this month put everyone how hard it would be operating through the winter months in places Like Northern parts of chicago without outdoor seating. Another w constituent who owns d operates a restaurant downtown enicago told my office with a Curbside Pickup generated more revenue than they were expecting, they were still losing far more money than they were taking in. He said he expects half of the restaurant, half of the restaurants to close in chicago, the a proposal like a payroll tax dont often provide what we need a Mitch Mcconnell and a relief package in first offer six months into the pm and how to businesses with the uncertainty caused with the federal assistance, how do you talk to your family and your employees about the stone wall we are seeing in getting this to you. If we cannot get any assistance as we move forward we are going to tighten up everything, shut down as much as possible and what i would say close the cash down. Thats only thing we can get removed till spring because of the weather that we areil goingo have and i hope thats not the case because thats going to put a lot of people in need but we cannotan continue paying with money that we do not have. For me i believe in running a transparent company, fortunately my company is small so my staff is at 13 employees, i voiced been transparent upfront and when i received the ppp i told him we would move that money to pass it along to them so they can keep food on the table and i let them know that this. Is the last of our ppp so i will be having not talk to let them know they will be seen decreases in their paycheck in the next month because we do not get additional aid and thats been only lifeline, we will have to think about possibly closing down which is really hard because i poured everything into this and im trying to live the American Dream that my parents came over here for. It is something that we are having to consider that might become a reality. I am sorry the conversation youre having are Difficult Conversations and are being held in businesses in communities across the country, this pandemic is unprecedented and weve never seen anything like it but we continue to provide like we did with the cares act in a proposal the heroes act, businesses like yours can stay open and we can get to a place where we achieve the recovery and put our economy back on track deliver to our children where they deserve and renew the American Dream, went to thinker witnesses, we are out of time but im so grateful for sharing your stories in the present variance in demonstrating your businesses and i hope we can find a path for that necessary. With that i yield back. Think the gentleman the time is expired, are you back with us . We will go to the Ranking Member mr. Smith. Thank you, mr. Chairman i want to thank all of w our witnesses, obviously im frustrated with china with the timing of such a hearing but it certainly does not produce what you have to say but im grateful that you have to shareur your experiences into here your entrepreneurial story, it is amazing and part of the frustration that i have we had such a great economy with my team and i think factually so before covid hit, it is been devastating, make no mistake, id be curious to your prospective pre, would you say we had a Strong Economy going . I would say we were covered from the wildfires, that was a huge huge fight and in 2020 and 2019 was amazing, 2020 looked like it was going to be good especially in catering with the amount of opportunities that were coming in events and celebrations and i think this couldve been a record year had it not been with more employees to be able to hire as well. For the blind goat, it is hard to say because we are fairly new and only been open for a year but yes prepandemic we see our sales climbing every month and i would say we did have a lot of traffic coming through doors, people were spending money and eating out and enjoying themselves, from the blind goat we were doing well economically. Would you say the economy was strong before covid. Yes thank you for the opportunity i would tell you literally the First Quarter of 2020 excluding the second half of march was the busiest quarter in the history of her 115yearold restaurant. While very good. I want to make this simple if you dont mind if each of our panelists can unmute themselves i have a quick answer no question, should we extend the Payroll Protection Program as soon as possible. I will start with you ms. Springsteen. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, sir. I appreciate that direct approach, i would like to take a moment and discuss your restaurant nebraska and as you may know nebraskas government did not institute the state when shut down with very strict requirements like the other states that have had flexible become a all be cautious along the way, im wondering if you found the impact on the restaurants across the country and have been proportional to the legitimacy of lockton and suspected communities. There has definitely been many approaches but when were looking at the map, indefinitely seems the more lockdown, the worse the performance. In the discharge position for the program and i would urge all of my colleagues to fin signed t and its a direct reflection of her input today and i think it is final and i think i missed one of our panelists on the Payroll Protection Program, my apologies, i neglected to ask you on the Payroll Protection Program. Along with worker protection, yes. My apology there. Did i miss anyone else, i think panelists. The but again i would urge my colleagues to sign the discharge position, its an opportunity to Work Together to help america pld i think the American People want us to Work Together, they do not like cns sold out, they want to help us all across america and if it involves more than one vote, lets consider that to but the fact of the matter is we have work to do and we need to get that done, again thank you for your inspiringal entrepreneurial stories, i know that you mentioned before the hearing started that you have the middle of a soft opening in a new restaurant and i commend the bravery, i know you said you signed the week before covid hit so i definitely wish you well and i want everyone to do well, i am very interested on how we can empower workers, we live in an economy and empowering individual washers, thank you very much, the gentlemans time is expired. You are regulars for five minutes. Thank you chairman ipp appreciate this opportunity and more portly i appreciate you holding this crucial hearing that is so important to my district on the Central Coast of california, thank you for that and Ranking Member smith, thank you as well in san bernardino, santa cruz, restaurants are lots of part of the hearts and soul restaurants shape the heart and soul of me and my family my oralian immigrant ran father was fortunate enough to come to this country and own a restaurant during the war years, world war ii and back then as you can imagine child labor laws meant that children actually worked. So my father my grandfather worked in the restaurant, my dad was a dishwasher, my two brothers and i followed myol das footsteps and they were dishwashers as well, i actually started off as a bus boy and a customer and then they made me a dishwasher, nevertheless i started off at a restaurant that had the most cheesiest name back in 1981. Obviously continue to be at monterey, carmel valley, continue to work at restaurants at my formative years, it allowed me too pay my way through college and it made me realize how much opportunity you guys provide for the people of our community yes you serve our customers butn, you get everyboy in our community said opportunity, what we see right now because of covid19 we see as opportunity shut down because we see restaurant shut down, and my district unfortunately because of all the restaurants its uniquely impacted, we had restaurants like 99 bottles in Paradise Beach and pensacola, hooligans in hollister, the caee in pacific grove, steaming hot coffee, beaches restaurant in big sur have all closed their doors permanently. Congress has the ability to help restaurants and we must do so in we must do so soon. Thats why i support inco introduced the bill that you heard about today, the restaurant act, chairman thompson, keep the lights on act, brett murphy jobs act, introduced legislation with my colleague on this committee the safe reopening tax credit and cover the expenses help reduce like ppp, plexiglass and social distancing and support the hero zach tried to enter the duct ability for expenses paid with ppp funding. But we must do more and for the sake of our restaurants, we must do more, for the sake of opportunity that you provide people, we must do more. We must do more for a restaurant that are currently open in one of my restaurants run by kirk, he sent me the following quote, the Financial Relief from congress is absolutely essential in the form of a second roundcof ppp, additional ppp flexibility, provision and our tax credits to mitigate the extreme a negative impact within Economic Impacts associated with the pandemic. Ms. Bernstein im sure you heard these stories and im sure you heard restaurants are adapted to survive but it is very expensive. So ms. Bernstein how helpful would be to offset the cost of the tax credits like the safe reopening tax credit which would cover expenses like ppe, plexiglass and other spaces that can make places safer. It would be incredible. We have spent so much money in building tables, expansions, signage and masks and so many things it would be extremely helpful. Mr. , what are your thoughts to offset these types t of cost. I think it would be wonderful, as it currently stands we are operatingng at reduced capacity but because of the effort that is going into it, we are spending more money, capital that we dont necessarily have in these difficult times and any tax credit of that nature would be in full support, a great help. I have a few seconds left, i will yield back my time, thank you for all that you do especially now but once we get through this, thank you for providing opportunity with so many people not just in my community but throughout the community. Mr. Murphy your record is for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman for holding this important hearing and allowing me too be out youru committee. In ms. Hans i want to say thank you for sharing your family story, i can relate as me and my from vietnam ugees vietnam, your story is an incredible story of glitz in the American Dream and i know youre exhibiting incredible grid in this moment and congress has a responsibility to help hardworking americans to the crisis so they continue to pursue their American Dreams, two weeks ago we had a hearing about the negative impact of congressional inaction on our constituents inio our community, today we go further and we talk about a specific industry that is vital to our economy particular to my district in the orlando area, this pandemic affects us disproportionately because were heavily dependent on high Touch Industries and is led to pockets of my community with over 15 o unemployment. But its a great pleasure to have the honorable mayor of orlando here with us today as a witness, you been an incredible leader of our city and before he entered politics and youre doing a great job navigating our community through difficult times, im really fortunate to have you as a partner in serving our constituents. Thank you for your testimony and perspective. I will cut to the chase t and sy Congress Needs to act in it needs to act now, we can continue to hear the story of how people and businesses are hurting but thats not going to change anybodys lives, legislative action will, i said it a lot of times before, two proposals that had bipartisan support and it could be the basis of any coppermine. The first one is expanding the Employee Retention tax credit and providing a safe reopening tax credit, we know that your tc helps employers keep workers on payroll so they can receive w income and Health Insurance which is critically important in the midst of t a pandemic and tt keeps them from having engaged of the owners unappointed system. The economy is not going to return to normal until people feel safe and restaurants have one very obvious example, Small Business trying to survive and navigate standards in the witnesses in response to my colleagues from california, they laid out they have been experiencing unexpected costs thatar safeguard the health of their employees and the customers alike. We should help them survive but also operate in a safe way. I have highlighted a few tools that we have in congress to help restaurants and to order some of the things that orlando has done, what tools are you using. We dont have the resources to give grants or loans but what we have done is thought outside of the box with capacity and how can we help them expand their capacity, normally you cannot set up tables in a private parking lot or public sidewalk, we allow them to give any sort to do that, we also allocated Parking Spaces that are adjacent to their businesses in two different ways, one is to create a 15 minute time limit so there can be on the premises and the other thing is let them use the parking spot that we call parkland so the tables out into the streets, we allow them without permitting to do additional signage and set up tents. To get back to business thats what restaurants need is an infusion of capital so they can take advantage of the other opportunities that they have two serve their customers. In your Opening Statement you mentioned ppe in the banded your tc that could be helpful, can you talk about how they think they can be helpful and we heard others propose of ideas such as grants and loans in industry bailout and state and local aid, why did you put those programs in particular. I think assess ability with some of the restaurants talk about and having applied to the programs accepted into, the tax credit in the tax code already exist, this is not a criticism of congress that the programs aare set up in the uncertaintyf how you can use the money, when you can useou the money and accessing the money can be difficult. I certainly agree thats why been a big proponent of it your tc, it was a new program that talk about what you created a lot ofre uncertainty n changing standards and regulation for entrepreneurs who are already struggling. Thank you so much for your time. You are recognized for five minutes. Figure for allowing me too participate in mr. Chairman i would assume most if not all americans know that las vegas is known as the entertainment capital of the world, our specialty and hospitality and are topnotch restaurants and people from across the world come to las vegas to enjoy. Its been clear it is because of the people, the workers who provide the unparallel service that nearly 40 Million People visit our community, i want to thank them and i know this firsthand before coming to congress i really Trading Academy which helped to train thousands of people and the workers that go want to work in our casinos, restaurants and hotels, the coronavirus has hit the Southern Nevada economy like anything ive ever seen before resulting in record high unemployment this summer at over 30 , 98 of the Culinary Union workers were furloughed from their job in march and about 50 are still not working today, thats why im so proud that mario has been in the steakhouse for 33 years in downtown las vegas is here speaking on behalf of millions of restaurant workers that are still struggling because Restaurant Industry unfortunately is one of the last industries to get back on its feet, mario i want to give you the opportunity as in probably one of the last speakers, tell us why you matt matter, why restaurant workers matter, why Congress Needs to step up, act and protect her citizens from the health and economic pandemic right now. We dont get to hear too often enough with the everyday people who are struggling from this pandemic and i know you were a big part of deciding a historic covid19 health and safety and to have stronger protection at work, congratulation on the new law, the first in the nation and i Hope Congress will act as well. I know you are laid off k and working hard to fight for the right to return to your job, can you share why the right to return is important and can you share with my fellow lawmakers what it means to you personally regarding housing and healthcare and putting food on the table and providing for yourself and family if congress does not deliver another stimulus check or extend federal unappointed benefits and finally how will my bill workers protection act covered Covid Benefits and get back on your feet act to extend unemployment and provide a back to work bonus so you can safely return to work, what do those bills mean for you. . As a father i have provided a long time for my children. Now i am a grandfather and i have my family still to take care of and as an employee in thee Service Industry we make this town, we are the ones that parked your cars, serve your food, we serve your drinks, we make your beds so you can come to this town and enjoy it, thats the way we do things here. , service has been my job my whole life, that is my career and when you come to my restaurant, i make it an experience for you, not just something to eat, it is an experience. But with covid going on in the covid law in the nation which offers enhanced training and contact tracing, that needs to go across the nation, not just here in nevada and the right to return to work, this did not happen to just anybody, i have given my life to my job and ive gone up and down with my job, this should give me the opportunity to go back to a job. I agree with you. We agree and we will keep fighting and willing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the house, the senate and the white house, we have to come together and agree on a compromise and put workers first it can help small workers are restaurants. The gentlemans time is expired. Thank you to everyone. You are doing a fantastic job and thank you for being with us today and for all the members of the committee and those who waved on for todays hearing, thank you very much and everyone be advised that members have two weeks to submit their written questions to be written later in writing they will be part of the formal hearing records. With that the subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank you. Tonight on the communicators, federal trade commission or rebecca slaughter is interviewed by Political Technology and antitrust reporter. What advice you have for parents when we have concerns about the online learning. We talk a lot and we should talk a lot about Digital Divide issues on who has strong band issues and libraries in parking lots and stores in order to get online for school. Im also worried an and the wayo which the Digital Divide which better off children in wealthier background can pay for more access to things and lower income kids have to pay with their privacy. Federal trade commission or rebecca tonight at eight eastern on the communicators on cspan2. Who will control congress in january, stay informed on all the competitive leading up to election day with cc it campaign 2020 coverage, washer candidates debate in the Election Results on cspan. Watch online as cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. Next the Education Summit hosted by the Ronald Reagan president ial Foundation Institute with comments by former u. S. Education secretary former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and marilyn governor larry hogan. Hello everyone and welcome i am the anchor of cnn newsroom we can welcome to the reimagining the future, schools have started in much of the nation and today of course we have had a full day of the valuable