U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) requested that the Small Business Administration (SBA) issue a detailed plan for releasing all unobligated funds from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund by Nov. 14.
“It is vital that the agency prioritize this issue and provide relief to the nearly 7,000 applicants that were identified as grant awardees in 2021 but never received funding,” the lawmakers wrote in a bicameral, bipartisan Nov. 1 letter sent to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman that was also signed by U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) is authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021.
In July, the Government Accountability Office said in its report, entitled “Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight,” that as of June 2022, $180 million of RRF funds remained unobligated, according to the lawmakers’ letter, which noted that roughly 177,000 restaurants that applied to the program did not receive grants.
“We recognize that the balance of the unobligated RRF will not be able to provide support to every small business that requested relief, but it is inexcusable for the Small Business Administration to not dispense every single available dollar to help as many of our nation’s still struggling main street businesses,” wrote Sen. Wicker, Rep. Fitzpatrick, and their Democratic colleagues.
In addition to releasing the remaining available funds, the SBA also must continue conducting thorough retrieval efforts to recapture funding given to ineligible applicants, accepted fraudulently, or otherwise able to be returned, according to their letter.
“Once recovered, these dollars must immediately be disbursed to those eligible businesses that have applied for and need these grants,” wrote the lawmakers, whose letter is supported by the National Restaurant Association and the Independent Restaurant Coalition.