Exclusive – Heritage Action Urges Senate Against $48 Billion Restaurant Bailout

Heritage Action for America urged senators to oppose Democrats’ $48 billion bailout for restaurants, gyms, and live event venues, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.

The Senate will on Thursday vote on the “poorly named” Small Business COVID Relief Act of 2022 (S. 4008). The legislation will provide $40 billion to “backfill” the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, $2 billion for gyms, $2 billion for live event venues, $2 billion for transportation providers, and $1.4 billion for businesses located near ports of entry.

Heritage Action said in their press release about the bill:

It is never appropriate for Congress to pass a giant bailout for special interests, but given the state of the economy, it is the last thing that should be considered right now. Americans have been living more than two years with COVID, and the federal government has already spent $6.6 trillion on it—the equivalent of $51,600 per household. This spending spree has been a major driver of the inflation crisis the country currently faces, which continues to serve as a tax that eats into the wages of working Americans. In fact, The Heritage Foundation has calculated that inflation is currently costing the average American household around $8,500 per year. Pouring an additional $48 billion into the economy will only add fuel to the inflation fire.

For the better part of the last two years, Democrat-run states and cities ignored science by forcing their businesses to stay closed and their citizens to stay home. While this was disastrous policy at the time, even the most liberal state and local governments have now opened up.

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The last thing the country needs right now is more no-strings attached cash dumped into politically favored industries and geographic areas, which will only result in higher prices for the rest of the country and further increase the deficit. Republicans have rightly pointed out that Democrats’ reckless spending has been one of the major drivers of the inflation crisis we face, but helping them push almost $50 billion more in spending would undermine that message and make Republicans complicit.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) lamented in an interview with Breitbart News Daily that many Republicans are lining up to vote for a coronavirus bailout bill after most lockdowns have been over for at least one year.