I want members to know that i plan to continue this committees long tradition of collegiality and substantive 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 respected in this new virtual format. Before i turn to todays important topic, i want to remind members of a few procedures to help you navigate this new platform. First, consistent with regulations the committee will keep microphones muted to limit background noise. Members are responsible for unmuting themselves when they seek recognition or when recognized for their 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 waving on to the subcommittee for todays hearing. Given the large number i will recognize members in an order that represents a balanced ratio beginning with members on the subcommittee and i understand that mr. Smith does not wish to be the first republican member to ask questions. I thank 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 dawn bayer is authorized to serve as the chair today in the event that i experience any technical difficulties and cant stay connected. With that ill now turn to the important topic of todays hearing, restaurants in america during the covid19 pandemic. Americas restaurants and restaurant workers are resilient force. They have weathered past recessions and fought their way back after hurricanes and wildfires, but the challenges they face now are unlike anything thats come before it. Restaurants and other places where we gather like theaters, arenas and concert halls, are equally vulnerable or uniquely vulnerable to the Current Public Health crisis. Theyre places where we meet up together and celebrate and conju gait with friends and family, social distancing is a Public Health necessity but cuts at the heart of an industry all about taking care of people by bringing them together. Thats not where the industrys challenges end. Restaurants are making dining spaces safer for their guests and employees, working to comply with the evolving Health Guidance and facing a hit to Outdoor Dining as weather changes. These costs add up and are tough to absorb in an industry where Profit Margins of 3 to 5 are the norm and its 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 30,000 restaurants. Its leveled such a direct hit that one in four unemployed americans today are restaurant workers. This was an unforeseeable catastrophe. Before the pandemic the Restaurant Industry was booming with over a million establishment nationwide employing over 15 Million People. The Restaurant Workforce is hit just as hard, if not harder than the owners. Restaurant work is tough and the industry is full of tenacious, young, strong people. Restaurant workers are disproportionately young and people of color and restaurants employ more than a million single moms. These jobs disappeared through no fault of the restaurant workers. Many of whom want to be back at work as soon as its safe. They need our support. Im proud of the pandemic relief measures that this committee and other committees passed to support restaurants and the workers whose jobs disappeared. The Employee Retention tax credit, the 1200 checks and 600 expanded unemployment benefit all helped. They werent perfect, but they did a lot of good. When we passed those bills we didnt know how long the virus would interrupt our economy. We werent sure how deep the recession would dip. We hoped that the virus would be better contained by now and that the economy would be in better condition, but theyre 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 the 600 per week federal supplement. It would improve the ppp and Employee Retention tax credit and it would help restaurants make rent through a tax credit that i led to, the keeping the lights on act. The senate has wasted more than four months. We have to act now to save this industry before its 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 market. But they do more than that. They make our neighborhoods more walkable and vibrant, they help us get acquaint with other cultures and get in touch with our own roots, they give us space to celebrate our lives and even just take our mind off of our daily difficulties. In my district theyre 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 who are joining us today and thank you for what you do. With that i would like to recognize the ranging member mr. Smith of nebraska for the purposes of an Opening Statement. Youre recognized. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, i would like to express my frustration. I am frustrated we are having another hearing under the au pes sus of the select subcommittee while Important Information we will hear, i think its important to note that a majority of what we will hear from our Witnesses Today will have almost nothing to do with what is in our subcommittees jurisdiction. Im frustrated even though were holding this as a subCommittee Hearing so Many Democrats are weighing in to come talk about their political priorities, issues that arent in our jurisdiction. Perhaps we could have a constructed 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 like the impact against Unemployment Benefits on workers and employers. I most frustrated by the primary reason we are here. The democratic leadership seems to prefer organizing these messaging opportunities for members over for members over coming to the table to have a serious conversation about how to most effectively defeat this disease and reopen our economy. Even as we meet it appears the speakers primary interest is holding show votes on another partisan package which will accomplish nothing to help hurting americans, so the speakers members can go home and tell their constituents they did something, even though nothing was done. Its time to start working. The last time we met republicans have ideas on how to help our workers recover. We are committed to defeating the disease and safely reopening our economy. We know there are many areas where we can have bipartisan agreement. We are frustrated just as i know many of our democratic colleagues are frustrated by the willingness of the speaker to hold hostage assistance we agreed to be passed on a partisan basisp we saw this over the summer when she declined the president s offer to continue negotiating a bipartisan covid package. We saw it this week when she pulled out of a bipartisan cr agreement risking a Government Shutdown to hold hostage aid to farmers in my district along with ranchers and ag producers and hungry families. We see it every time she begins a conversation about covid aid demanding a dollar figure rather than sharing priorities for resuming a healthy opening of the United States of america. We must do better. Essential workers including those who work in our restaurants deserve real action. Our witnesses can testify to that. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Restaurants are vital to our economy. They provide Economic Opportunity for people of all ages. They provide millions of jobs. My district is number one in the nation in ag pro doduction and nebraska we understand its as important or more important than the initial production. You all do immense work adding value. Thank you for doing what we do. Restaurants, cooks, servers, bartenders, hosts, others, need assistance and i hope we can have a constructive conversation about ways we can help in this jurisdiction with safety and cleaning costs or adjusting the Employee Retention tax credit. We must also keep in mind that restaurants arent the only sector of our economy hurting because of restrictions hurting on travel and public gatherings. Hotels, theaters and sporting venues are a few of the other industries impacted. I would like to ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter from the national franchisy association and several Hotel Lodging association in support of continuing access to the Payroll Protection Program. Without objection such will be the order. Thank you. Before i yield back, i would like to also ask unanimous consent to include ranking republican bradys opening remarks in the record. Without objection, such will be the order. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. Thank you, mr. Smith. Im 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. I yield five minutes for the chairman for any remarks he would like to make. Chairman neal youre recognized. Thank you chairman thompson and Ranking Member smith, a note to you, mike, for hosting this important hearing. I think were all united in one common purpose today, the recognition and acknowledgement until we defeat this virus we are not going to enter into a full economic recovery. These restaurants are hurting throughout my district in central and western massachusetts and all over the country in urben and rural areas. My heart goes out to those owners and employees and the communities they serve in and, indeed, sustain. Restaurant are neighborhood anchors where people gather not just for a good meal and to connect 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 and says democrats and republicans. His testimony now, as it was before we wrote the cares act, was profound. What he suggested was that the economy is in need of a major infusion of liquidity. Weshg we should all be united around that that testimony. Secretary mnuchin reinforced what jay powell has had to say. Red rose and stringfield or mazos in pits field, the lucky strike, or in williamstown where the bistro and bar was cofounded by one of my constituents nap constituents nancy thomas, all making the same argument and plea. When the covid19 virus stayathome orders and social distancing it had a cataclysmic effect on our nations restaurants and their workers. Currently restaurants contribute to one in four job losses from the covid19 shutdown. Even establishment that have hung on are facing cuts to wages and hours you know how difficult it is in that industry to retain employees. The Payroll Protection Program is part of the cares act providing a financial lifeline to businesses and incentive for Restaurant Owners to keep their workers. Alone in my district, 800 ppp loans were distributed to restaurants that totaled close to 68 million and saved 14,000 jobs. Many restaurant workers are women and people of color marginalized and this program provided peace of mind for them and their families. He im proud of the work that the commonwealth of massachusetts has done that reopened restaurants across the commonwealth. I speak with governor baker almost every day about the need for additional assistance. Saturday night we spent an hour on the phone discussing this matter and hope to report to him this weekend congress is paying attention to the request he has made. Its a good example of how to move forward with properly public guidelines we need to follow. But more is needed to help our nations struggling restaurants. We need to continue to remember that this that anything else is a health crisis. And our nations economy will not bounce back until we beat it, which 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 not 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 representatives voted against the cares act. Many of those efforts we tried to replicate and included in the heros act and it would help owners and their employees in restaurants as well. It siggly increases the employee 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 staff has estimated up to 63 million workers that receive assistance by vigorously embracing the Employee Retention credit. This boosts the ppp as well and it will help em ploirs to pay their employees. The heros act expands paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave and also helps clearly the familys first act that we have embraced at the end of 2021. It provides another round of Economic Impact payments and expangsz of child care and refundable credits helping struggling workers and their families. These are reasonable, effective relief measures and they go 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 city 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 and many of the area restaurants were impacted because of it. The effects will be felt all going into this fall season when many tourists usually by the tens and hundreds of thousands flock to the area. The restaurant area and those that support it need certainly now more than ever. We have an obligation to help them and that includes the infusion of more money into our economy. The heros act provides that. I applaud Mike Thompson again, chairman, for his leadership on these important issues and i want to remind all what i said earlier, the Federal Reserve board is not coms priced of democrats and republicans. The testimony offered two days ago by jay powell should have a profound impact on these deliberations. These restaurants simply need help. Thanks to 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 longest serving mayor, having served continuously since his first election in 2003 and one of the longest serving big city 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 fig cafe and wine bar in glen allen, california, and an event space, full Service Catering company and food truck and also a cookbook author and has a podcast dedicated to food. Christine ha is the chef and proprietor of the blind goat restaurant and bravely chef hall in houston, texas. This is miss has first restaurant. An accomplishment made more notable due to her permanent blindness. Miss ha suffers from a result of an autoimmune disease. Following her win she authored a New York Times best selling cookbook, cohosted a cooking show and served as a judge of master chef vietnam. Mario sandoval has worked as a food server in las vegas for 35 years. He has been a member of the Culinary Workers Union local 226 in las vegas since 1982, joining when he was just 16 years old. Saru jayaraman is president of one fair wage, coauthor of the Restaurant Opportunity Center united and director of the Food LaboratoryResearch Center at the university of california at berkeley. Melvin rodrigue is the 2020 chairman of the National Restaurant association and president and ceo of galatas restaurant in new orleans and baton rouge, louisiana. The new orleans location has been in business since 1905. Hes a former president of the louisiana