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On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that a whole new batch of stimulus checks has now started to go out to a very specific group of recipients. They are the restaurants that have been “hard-hit” by the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden administration also confirmed that those new relief payments will start going out on Monday. The move came days after the IRS sent out the eighth batch of $1,400 stimulus checks, totaling 1.1 million new payments as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, signed in March by President Biden. The money is part of a $28.6 billion pool of financial aid called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. It was made possible by the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Point to be noted that this money is a grant, not a loan. So it is distinct from the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

It is noteworthy that Trump’s Paycheck Protection Program only facilitated emergency loans to businesses. However, the administration’s announcement that payments have started to go out to restaurants is welcome news for an industry that’s been disproportionately affected in a major way by the COVID-19 pandemic. At least half of all restaurant industry workers lost their jobs in the first few months of the pandemic. The vaccination has helped the US make big strides in its recovery from the pandemic. The restaurant industry is still down 1.8 million jobs from February of 2020. On Monday, the White House released a fact sheet about this new restaurant industry program and funding. It points to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and it was designed to aid restaurants, bars, food trucks, and other food and drink establishments.

It would help restaurants and bars hire back workers at good wages. The White House issued a statement and said that around 186,200 restaurants, bars, and other eligible businesses in all 50 states, including Washington, DC, and 5 US territories applied for relief in the first 2 days of the program. The statement adds, “Today, the Administration is sending the first grants under the program to 16,000 hard-hit restaurants. These include restaurants in states and territories throughout the country, and restaurants owned and controlled by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals”. This is not the only new stimulus money rolling out to Americans because the federal child tax credit is another new round of stimulus checks that will start rolling out in July.