Coronavirus relief package will do little to help restaurants, coalition says

In late March, President Donald Trump signed the Cares Act, a coronavirus relief bill that included $350 billion in loans to help small businesses keep their workers on payroll. However, the program does little for restaurants that have already shuttered due to stay-at-home orders, The Washington Post reports. A coalition of independent restaurateurs is now lobbying elected officials to make future aid more inclusive, such as by granting loans to restaurants once the pandemic is actually over—aka, once such businesses can reopen. The Cares Act has garnered a significant amount of confusion in the agriculture industry, as well. As we’ve reported, independent farmers are concerned about how relief will be allocated, a topic which the Department of Agriculture has been silent on.