President Biden COVID-19 Relief Remarks
This was a press conference from President Biden about COVID-19 relief mainly focusing on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The press conference was held at the White House in the State Dining Room. The press conference was held on Wednesday May 5th, 2021. It was in front of a crowd of reporters and a live camera. The recording was posted on C-SPAN.org. The remarks come after over a year of the pandemic. The pandemic has caused many small businesses, including restaurants, to close permanently.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund is a fund used to get restaurants across America back in business and keep them from closing. President Biden briefly introduces the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund is part of the American Rescue Plan. The plan provides $1,400 checks and funds COVID-19 vaccine administration. The checks will be given to most American citizens. “By the time all of the money is distributed, more than 85 percent of American households will have received a check”, President Biden said during his press conference.
The American Rescue Plan has already made a major change since its creation. President Biden speaks about the American Rescue Plan and its progress thus far. Over 220 million shots have been administered in President Biden’s first one hundred days. With so many COVID-19 vaccines administered, it is helping places get back to normal and open the country. This has helped schools reopen and the checks helped parents pay for childcare. The American Rescue Plan is helping feed millions of Americans facing hunger. It also provides rental assistance, keeping people from being evicted from their homes. Healthcare has become more affordable due to the American Rescue Plan.
American restaurants are struggling. President Biden confronts the issue of restaurant owners struggling to keep their businesses open after over a year of the pandemic. More than 2.3 million restaurant jobs disappeared in 2020. Restaurants are a major part of the economy. More than half of American’s have worked in a restaurant at some point in their lives. Restaurant jobs make up 12% of the total jobs in the country. Restaurants had to make many changes to stay open, but some still had to lay off workers or close permanently due to the pandemic.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide direct relief to restaurants, bakeries, bars, food trucks, food stands and caterers. President Biden speaks about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, who it helps and how it can be used to help. Businesses that are accepted can use the funds to cover payroll, rent, utilities, and supplies. Applications started being accepted on May 3rd, 2021. In just two days there were 186,200 applications. Right now, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund can help 100,000 eligible businesses. To keep everything fair funds have been set aside for the smallest restaurants that haven’t received help yet. Restaurants play a major role in the American economy.
President Biden concludes his speech about COVID-19 relief. He assures us that with the help of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund which is a part of the American Rescue plan we can get our economy back to the way it was before COVID-19. We can open our businesses back up like they were before the pandemic. “… we can get our economy back on track by helping hundreds of thousands of small businesses reopen and stay open; that we can give the people of this nation a fighting chance again,” President Biden said, closing his remarks about COVID-19.
