Far more applications for restaurant aid pour in than can be funded
Restaurants have applied for $76 billion in relief money from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, far more than the $28.6 billion appropriated by Congress for pandemic aid for the industry, The New York Times reports. So who gets money? The Small Business Administration will prioritize restaurants and bars owned by women, veterans, and groups that qualify as socially and economically disadvantaged—categories that total more than 208,000 applicants. Legislators are already facing pressure to re-up the funding; if they don’t, some businesses will be left out. Of course, conservatives have already sued, arguing that white men are being “pushed to the back of the line.” So far, federal judges have not been sympathetic.
