Congress is mulling a new $55 billion aid package for restaurants and other industries battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants are slated to receive $42 billion which is intended to backfill the 2021 Restaurant Relief Fund. That aid ran out before 2/3 of restaurants that applied could receive cash, according to Roll Call. The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday to go over the bill and Democratic leaders in the chamber are currently seeing how much enthusiasm there is for the idea among members. “We under-appropriated to begin with,” Rep Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota) told the outlet. “So this is about a make-good and not picking winners and losers. And that notion is picking up some steam, recognizing this is not a prospective COVID relief bill. This is a retrospective make-good.” The new spending would come during a midterm election year as the country races record inflation.
