On the recordApril 7, 2022
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Missouri for giving me such latitude. $55 billion that we don't have, folks. 42 billion, goes into this new--the reauthorization of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Another $13 billion going to target business owners who have less than 200 employees. I know that there are restaurant owners and small business owners in the United States who are looking for relief every single day. They are trying to find a way to make ends meet. How do I know this? Because in the beginning of my career, a lot of what I did was analyze the very business owners who are struggling in today's economy. And in today's economy, they are struggling for a myriad of reasons. Number one, our energy prices. When the price of oil shoots up so drastically, it impacts transportation; it impacts how they get the material that they sell in their stores every single day. Wage inflation, which is completely out of control in the United States. When wages go up, the costs of doing business goes up, no matter what any politician on Capitol Hill says. So throwing more money at this situation, especially money that has never been appropriated; money that is going to come out of thin air, is not going to make matters better for small business owners; it is going to make them worse. The ranking member on the Small Business Committee, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr.…





