The House is in a committee work week again this week, and will reconvene next Tuesday, May 11th at 6:30 p.m. for votes. At 10 a.m. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona began testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee. The hearing is to discuss the budget request for the Department of Education and during which Cardona said he expects every school to offer in-person instruction this fall — and that while there is a place for online learning, not every student requires a virtual learning option. Meanwhile, Cardona also defended his department’s decision to maintain requirements that states administer standardized tests, while acknowledging the exam results will be of little value to teachers.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy will hold a legislative hearing at 11:30 a.m. entitled, “The CLEAN Future Act: Driving Decarbonization of the Transportation Sector.” Chairman Pallone MEMO.
The Senate is in recess this week and will reconvene next Monday, May 10th at 3:00 p.m.
President Joe Biden visited a Washington restaurant owned in part by Mexican immigrants, Las Gemelas, restaurant in Northeast Washington, today to highlight $28.6 billion in federal aid for restaurants that struggled during the pandemic. The White House said Wednesday that 186,200 restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses had applied for the program over its first two days of accepting applications. More than half of the applicants are owned by women, veterans or people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. The aid for eateries was part of the Biden administration’s broader $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. President Biden plans to also discuss the program in a Wednesday afternoon speech. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide restaurants with up to $10 million per business in funding to match their pandemic-related revenue losses, with no more than $5 million per physical location, according to the US Small Business Administration. The minimum award is $1,000. Funds from the program may be used for costs related to the business including payroll costs, payments on any mortgage obligation, rent payments, debt service, utility payments, maintenance expenses, construction of outdoor seating, supplies and other expenses. Those who receive the funds do not have to repay the money as long as they are used for eligible expenses no later than March 11, 2023. The program has set aside $9.5 billion for the smallest restaurants and bars, and a third of the applications were filed by businesses with annual pre-pandemic revenues of less than $500,000. For the program’s first 21 days, applications from women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged people will have priority for being reviewed and funded.
As the Senate continues laying the groundwork for the infrastructure bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced a new $73 billion plan on Tuesday aimed at replacing the country’s mass transit buses with clean vehicles. The proposal seeks to replace the country’s 70,000 buses and 85,000 cutaway vehicles and transit vans, prioritizing funding for areas with the worst air quality first, according to a press release. A summary said the plan, called Clean Transit for America, will authorize the money for the procurement and deployment of zero-emission buses and infrastructure, including charging stations related to it. President Biden has similarly expressed a desire to lessen emissions from buses, pitching electrification of at least 20 percent of the country’s school bus fleet in his $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
