By Joyce Hanson

Law360 (June 11, 2021, 7:50 PM EDT) -- A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a measure to add $60 billion to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant program that passed earlier this spring, saying eateries and bars need the second round of relief as they're still struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., joined Thursday with Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., in introducing the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act in both chambers of Congress, proposing more than twice as much as the original $28.6 billion package of coronavirus relief funds that President Joe Biden signed in March to help restaurants and bars.

Blumenauer, who with Wicker in 2020 had proposed a failed $120 billion Restaurants Act launched by the Independent Restaurant Coalition lobbying group, said in a statement Thursday that the first round of 2021 funding has been successful but that "extraordinary demand" from businesses shows they still need help.

"We must work quickly to replenish this critical relief program and ensure all local restaurants get the support needed to keep their doors open, pay their staff, and support the industry's trillion-dollar supply chain that impacts every sector of our economy," Blumenauer said.

The four lawmakers introduced the new legislation after more than 362,000 eligible businesses applied for nearly $75 billion in assistance from the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund approved by Biden on March 11, according to Blumenauer.

The grant program, which is run by the Small Business Administration, had passed the U.S. House on a 220-211 vote March 10 as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill known as the American Rescue Plan. The $28.6 billion portion of the massive relief bill won passage March 6 in the Senate on a 50-49 vote. Wicker joined other Republicans in refusing to support the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

On Thursday, Wicker applauded the new bipartisan, bicameral effort to continue support of restaurants, saying the fund is "a lifeline" for the country's small and independent eateries.

"Our restaurants are now beginning to recover from a year of lost revenue, but many establishments are still hurting and have not been able to access aid for which they are eligible," Wicker said in a statement. "Replenishing this fund would help restaurants, their staff, and the broader food supply chain as they continue to get back on their feet."

According to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the nationwide restaurant and bar industry of about 500,000 businesses has lost more than $280 billion in revenue since the pandemic struck. At the same time, the IRC said, food costs are risking, 21 states are still imposing dining restrictions and 1.46 million workers remain jobless out of a total 16 million in the sector.

Erika Polmar, the lobbying group's executive director, said in a statement Thursday that the pandemic devastated many restaurants and bars virtually overnight, leaving them with the challenge of winning back reluctant customers and handling dining restrictions imposed by state and local governments.

"These headwinds will be insurmountable for many businesses through no fault of their own," Polmar said. "The IRC is thrilled to see Senators Wicker and Sinema and Representatives Blumenauer and Fitzpatrick stand together to protect this industry and urge all members of Congress to support refilling the Restaurant Revitalization Fund."

About 90,000 restaurants and bars have already closed due to the pandemic, according to the IRC, which also noted that between March and April alone, the price of beef rose 14.5% and the price of pork rose nearly 10%.

Within the first three and half weeks of the relief fund application portal's opening, hundreds of thousands of restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses applied for debt-free grants, the IRC said.

Of those, 12,898 applications came from businesses with not more than $50,000 in annual pre-pandemic revenue, 73,671 came from businesses with not more than $500,000 in revenue, and 34,010 applications came from businesses with $500,000 to $1.5 million in revenue, according to the group, which was formed by celebrity chefs and independent restaurant owners during the pandemic.

"This program caters to the most vulnerable businesses: grants cannot exceed $10 million per restaurant group, which cannot have more than 20 entities, and $5 million per business," the IRC said. "The SBA will prioritize awarding grants to women or veteran-owned businesses, and socially and economically disadvantaged groups, including Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Pacific Americans and Subcontinent Asian Americans."

The National Restaurant Association, a century-old trade group that represents 1 million restaurant and food-service outlets with a workforce of 15.6 million employees, also supports the new measure, saying that the path to recovery for eateries remains uncertain even as the U.S. economy is growing stronger. Consumer spending at restaurants is down $1.4 billion since the pandemic hit, the association said.

Sean Kennedy, the association's executive vice president of public affairs, said in a Thursday statement that introduction of the added $60 billion in funding would address the needs of anxious small-business restaurant owners who didn't know where to turn when the Restaurant Relief Fund portal closed in May.

"The success of the RRF so far is, in large part, because the SBA focused on making the program simple and accessible," Kennedy said. "We appreciate how swiftly they were able to establish a program unlike anything they had administrated before and believe it has the structure to sustain additional funding."

--Editing by Rich Mills.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.