Reckless government spending has created the worst inflation in decades. The consumer price index revealed that inflation rose to 7.5% in the past year, the highest increase in 40 years.
In an effort to curb this record inflation, Sen. Rand Paul is trying to get the government to spend less and be more fiscally responsible. It has been quite the challenge. Yet, in his latest efforts, Paul wrote a letter to the Committee on Appropriations, calling for a halt to spending taxpayer dollars on industry-specific grants related to the pandemic.
Writing to Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, and Sen. Richard Shelby, ranking member on the Committee on Appropriations, Paul called for an end to the disastrous Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
“Despite evidence that recent stimulus efforts have been a major contributor to these trends, there have been concerning discussions on additional funding for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and other grant programs for select industries in the upcoming omnibus package,” Paul wrote in a letter exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“I sympathize with restaurants and other business owners who have suffered from government lockdowns and business restrictions that have been detrimental to livelihoods and our economy,” Paul wrote. “Small businesses have been disproportionately harmed in states with heavy-handed COVID-19 mandates, such as New York, California, and Hawaii. However, the federal government should not be in the business of rewarding poor economic policy decisions of state and local governments.”
Additionally, Paul pointed out that “a disproportionately large amount of these stimulus efforts have already been directed towards accommodation and food services.” One of the most eye-raising statistics Paul highlighted in the letter is the huge discrepancy of these subsidies between restaurants and other industries.
“Restaurants received nearly 13 percent of their yearly revenue in government subsidy since the beginning of the pandemic,” Paul wrote. “As a means of reference, other industries received an average of three percent of their yearly revenue in government subsidy.”
Paul also emphasized statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that showed how restaurants have drastically benefited.
“Throughout 2021, restaurant GDP grew an average of 40 percent per quarter, which is twenty times larger than other sectors’ average growth. Many sectors, such as retail trade, shrank. Throughout 2021, retail trade averaged -4.0 percent in GDP growth per quarter,” Paul wrote. “Despite similar exposure to risk from COVID policies as the restaurant industry, retail only received 0.6 percent of yearly revenues in government COVID stimulus.”
However, it seems Democrats are intent on creating worse inflation and spending even more money under the guise of helping the restaurants and small businesses they have been crushing for two years. As usual, the Democratic answer to the problem is to throw more money at it. It is believed that the Biden administration wants to pass one more aid bill with the help of legislators “backed by a powerful restaurant lobby.”
Paul highlighted the dysfunction that occurred in the fund’s distribution. He highlighted how the program did not help the small, vulnerable restaurants it was designed for. “RRF used its $28.6 billion appropriation to subsidize a wide range of eligible entities, which included restaurants, hotels, casinos, and any similar business where food or drink is served,” Paul said.
“Refilling the RRF will further contribute to rapidly rising inflation, give an unfair advantage to an industry that is already recovering quickly, and create even more inequities within the restaurant industry,” Paul wrote.
