The Restaurant Revitalization Fund was intended to “provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open.” It was part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act. However, like so many things in the Biden administration, it was plagued by chaos, mismanagement, and fiscal irresponsibility. This recklessness has contributed to the country’s out-of-control inflation problem. Aware of these mishaps, Sen. Rand Paul has been trying to figure out what went wrong, but he has been thwarted at every attempt. On Wednesday, he took further action and sent a letter to Isabella Casillas Guzman, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, demanding accountability.
“The Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) obligated nearly $28.6 billion to more than 100,000 eligible entities. As reported by the agency, more than 278,000 eligible applicants requested grants accounting for more than $72.2 billion,” the Kentucky Republican wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Despite the program window closing seven months ago, this Committee does not have sufficient information regarding the current applicant queue and their funds requested to aid business losses.”
Additionally, in his letter, Paul requested specific information to try to resolve these vast financial inconsistencies and discrepancies. He made the request to the Small Business Administration, the group responsible for implementing RRF. Financial accountability is a phenomenon that has been missing in the government for years, but Paul is at least attempting seems to fix the problem.
The RRF was supposed to provide restaurants “with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business.” However, it was discovered that applicants for the funds were being prioritized on the basis of race and gender — an occurrence that was not supposed to have happened. Many felt that this was unconstitutional and discriminatory and filed a lawsuit. In response, a Texas court issued an injunction and ordered payments to stop being distributed.
The government’s fiscal irresponsibility and reckless administrative application were the impetus for Paul’s letter. While many in the Biden administration have sought to sweep the RRF mess under a metaphorical rug, Paul is vigorously pursuing the truth and trying to make sure such mishaps are not repeated. He is tired of the bureaucratic incompetence that haunts government spending.
Furthermore, the senator realized before many that the RRF had a myriad of problems and was destined to fail. For starters, it was underfunded at an amount of $28.6 billion. Next, there were numerous problems with its implementation. The RRF was created mainly for small businesses and “mom and pop shops” that were struggling, not major corporations. Instead, incompetent officials in the Biden administration erroneously gave money to many businesses that were supposed to be ineligible. This resulted in an exhaustion of available funds in RRF and left hundreds of thousands of eligible businesses with nothing.
The COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, revealed many of the terrible inefficiencies that plague our government. And, more often than not, it is the everyday citizen that suffers as a result. The Biden administration has been an embarrassment. The failure to administer relief funds to businesses properly is a stain on our reputation.
All should welcome Paul’s involvement in sorting out the RRF disaster. At a time when out-of-control reckless government spending by the Biden administration is contributing to the worse inflation in decades, Paul’s pursuit for accountability is sorely needed.
