Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) voted for the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022, to provide $55 billion in relief for restaurants and other businesses that continue to struggle to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.  Congresswoman Fletcher is a co-sponsor of the legislation. 

“Houston is a food town,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “Helping restaurants and small businesses recover from the pandemic continues to be a top priority for me in Congress.  I was glad to vote for the American Rescue Plan last year to provide much-needed relief for them, but unfortunately, not all restaurants that needed it were able to access the Restaurant Revitalization Fund because the funds ran out.  I was glad to vote today to provide the assistance we promised, and to co-sponsor the bill to make sure we did.” 

In February 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan, which provided $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).  Congresswoman Fletcher voted for the bill, and the program provided desperately needed relief to more than 100,000 restaurants and other food and beverage businesses across the country, including 485 establishments in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District.  However, the program received more than 278,000 eligible applications representing more than $72.2 billion in requested funds. The Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 provides additional relief to eligible applicants that were unable to access RRF due to funding shortages in the program.