Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentlewoman's courtesy, as I appreciate her tireless leadership on this issue. Her committee has performed admirably. I am excited about the wide range of areas that you have enacted to be able to help the recovery that we have seen around the country, one of the reasons that we have had the largest increase in employment this last year in American history. I think what we have today is another chapter in that story. Over 2 years ago, I received countless late-night texts and phone calls from the independent restaurants in my community. Portland, Oregon is known for its restaurant scene. We set to work listening to them to come up with an approach that would meet their needs. The so- called Paycheck Protection Program was not adequate. They didn't even know if they were going to be in business, let alone paying back a loan. We developed this grant program after consulting with independent restaurants all across the country. The neighborhood bars and restaurants were the hardest hit since the beginning of the pandemic. They were the first to shut down in March of 2020, and they accounted for a quarter of the job losses; 5\1/2\ million workers in April 2020 alone. And they have been the slowest to reopen. Yes, they can pivot and adapt, but frankly, the unemployment in the industry remains stubbornly slow to recover.…”