Small businesses worry final aid package will neglect them again

WASHINGTON — Steven Gentile had to shut down his amusement park for the entire 2020 season, burning through his emergency fund halfway through the year and taking on over $1 million in debt.

Darden Kirby may have to sell his assisted living facility if business doesn’t improve soon. Dwayne Thomas is postponing his planned retirement by five years to pay off a sixfold increase in debt his events lighting company took on during the pandemic.

These and other smallbusiness owners around the country, including some of those most affected by pandemic-era lockdowns, have seen little financial aid from Washington over the past two years. That’s despite policymakers enacting multiple COVID-19 relief packages totaling over $5 trillion.

As lawmakers attempt another, final round of smallbusiness aid, many owners and industry representatives worry they’ll be left out. Competing House and Senate bills are largely focused on backfilling a depleted grants fund for restaurants, bars and other food and beverage service companies that didn’t get money in an initial $28.6 billion round last year. But other sectors hit hard by local restrictions and customers staying home would see some relief as well.

The biggest challenge, aside from convincing enough Republicans to back more largely un-offset spending, is deciding how to allocate the limited dollars lawmakers are willing to provide outside of the restaurant fund.

The Senate bill would devote $8 billion to a select few industries, like gyms, buses and ferries, border area businesses, and staging, lighting, sound and other live event service providers.

The House-passed bill would create a $13 billion industry-neutral grant program for other businesses.

Several small-business owners who spoke with CQ Roll Call would qualify for aid under the House bill but not the Senate version.

“We cannot bear to see Congress pick winners and losers again,” said Thomas, who serves as government affairs director for the Live Events Coalition. The group started two years ago to advocate for the numerous micro-industries that help run corporate, social and entertainment events.

Thomas’ industry trade group and most others interviewed for this story are part of the Economic Bridge Coalition, which helped craft the broader approach taken in the House bill. They worry Congress will either pass nothing or go with the Senate version, leaving their businesses shut out.