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| AP Photo/Ted S. Warren |
Restaurants and venues owned by white men will be last in line for federal relief under President Joe Biden’s “Restaurants Revitalization Fund” (RRF), prioritizing funds for women and minority groups first.
As part of Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is opening the application process by which owners of restaurant, bars, and other venues can apply for federal relief to help make up for the loss of revenue as a result of economic lockdowns spurred by the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
The plan allows business owners to apply for relief of up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Business owners do not have to repay the funds so long as the money is spent by March 2023.
The relief, though, is being prioritized based on race, gender, and whether or not business owners are considered “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.” White men, for example, who are not Veterans of the United States Armed Forces, are not eligible for “priority period” processing and funding. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Frank Franklin II |
The U.S. shut down much of the economy, and still more than half a million Americans died from COVID-19 while children lost out on school, shops shuttered and Congress spent $6 trillion on relief, sparking a consensus that prolonged lockdowns cannot be the treatment of choice for future pandemics.
“It was never intended to be a long-term thing. I think politics, media hysteria just took over,” said Joe Grogan, who led the Domestic Policy Council under President Trump and served on his COVID-19 task force.
The original shutdown plans were supposed to last only a few weeks, he recalled.
“One thing to keep in mind is the shutdown started because the New York City health system was on the verge of collapse. At least that was what it looked like,” Mr. Grogan said. “Then we were worried about other health systems shutting down.”
The economic shutdowns reduced the number of cases but proved to be a blunt instrument, with massive job losses, permanent business closures and excess deaths from a host of causes as people put off regular health screenings or treatments. Restaurants and music and art venues are teetering, and drug overdose deaths are worse than they have ever been. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories and resources:
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USA TODAY: Coronavirus Updates
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