COVID-19 Relief? It has been a nice respite not touching on COVID-19 recently in this space. But COVID-19 will likely remain an issue employers must front for the foreseeable future. To that end, on April 07, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3807, or the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021, by a vote of 223-203. The measure would allocate $42 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and $13 billion to establish a new program for small businesses that lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional funds will go to the Small Business Administration with marching orders to assist restaurants and small businesses that didn’t receive relief from previous COVID-19 aid packages.
At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) announced a bipartisan agreement that would appropriate $10 Billion in supplemental funding through amendments to H.R. 4373 “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including for necessary expenses with respect to the research and development, manufacturing, production, purchase, and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical products, services, and supplies.” The appropriation is less than the amount requested by the administration, and does not include any provision for global vaccination efforts. This piecemeal legislative approach to additional pandemic funding was necessary after a $15.6 billion aid proposal was...
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday (April 6, 2026) accused Congress of unleashing a “foreign-influenced misinformation campaign” against him and his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma ahead ...