The amendment (Proposed Senate Bill for Restaurants 2.4.21) was offered by Sen. Sinema of AZ and Sen. Wicker of MS and would establish a fund to provide grants to restaurants impacted by COVID.
The amendment is more symbolic and won’t become law (part of the budget process is offering message amendments that can demonstrate what level of support there is for various issues), but it’s significant that it passed by a vote of 90-10. That’s pretty overwhelming.
This was the very first amendment that came up for a vote last Thursday afternoon as part of the “vote-a-rama” process of passing the budget resolution (this starts the process for crafting the budget reconciliation package that will be a version of the President’s American Rescue plan) was in relation to support for the restaurant industry.
Biden tells CBS last Friday, “I don’t think it’s going to survive” when speaking about the fact that he may have to drop $15 minimum wage hike because it will violate Senate rules on reconciliation.
Thanks to Stacy Rich and Hunt Shipman from Cornerstone Government Affairs for this update.