By Joyce Hanson

Law360 (June 10, 2020, 5:00 PM EDT ) A Democratic congressman from Oregon pushing for $120 billion in grants to aid thousands of independent restaurants threatened with closure because of COVID-19 said Wednesday he's working closely with the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to win passage of his bill.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he's in talks with Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to ensure bipartisan support for the Restaurants Act of 2020, which would back the $120 billion stabilization grant program launched a few months ago by a coalition of chefs, industry leaders and more than 50,000 small businesses when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

"We're working closely with Senator Wicker," Blumenauer said during a briefing call to discuss a new report finding that up to 85% of small restaurants and bars remain in danger of closing by the end of 2020 due to the pandemic. "I anticipate the bill will be introduced in the House as early as this week. I've had expressions of support from Democrats and Republicans in the House, and we've been working with the senator on bipartisan, bicameral support."

Wicker was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Members of the newly formed Independent Restaurant Coalition, or IRC, met on May 18 with President Donald Trump along with representatives for the National Restaurant Association and major chains to ask the president to address weaknesses in the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, the forgivable loan program introduced in March when Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

On June 3, the PPP won Senate approval for more flexible terms favoring independent restaurants and other small businesses. Two days later, Trump signed into law the new measure that now gives employers 24 weeks to spend PPP funds, tripling the previous covered period of eight weeks, and that requires them to spend only 60% on payroll, down from 75%.

But the IRC is continuing to push for the $120 billion grant program, saying that even with the PPP's increased flexibility, the program isn't enough to keep most small restaurants going. The Restaurant Act would prioritize 500,000 small eateries, many of them run on shoestring budgets and owned by women, minorities and immigrants, according to the coalition.

On the briefing call, Dan Wu, a Chinese immigrant and owner of the Atomic Ramen restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky, said he had to permanently close three weeks ago even though he received a PPP loan.

"I got the PPP loan and couldn't make use of it based on its timeline," Wu said. "My accountant and I couldn't figure how how to use the PPP. It was confusing and difficult, and I didn't want to come out of this situation more in debt. I'm afraid that the people least likely to survive are women-run, minority and immigrant restaurants. We need money to get through this. I fear that chains will be the only thing left."

The IRC report released Wednesday in conjunction with economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon says the industry lost nearly 50%, or 5.9 million, of its jobs between February and April — and at least 4.5 million of those jobs were from independent restaurants.

"The industry's staggering job losses have contributed significantly to the unemployment figures in the United States, which have reached levels not seen since the Great Depression," the report says. "More than a quarter of the unemployment increase since February (3.1 percentage points) can be attributed to individuals who lost a job in the restaurant industry — more than any other industry and almost double the next most affected industry."

--Editing by Stephen Berg.

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