Luján Delivers Floor Speech Highlighting Support for New Mexico Small Businesses

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) delivered remarks on the Senate Floor highlighting Senate Democrats’ support for small businesses in New Mexico and across the country.

WATCH: Luján Delivers Senate Floor Speech Highlighting New Mexico Small Businesses

An excerpt of Senator Luján’s speech is below: 

For the past two years, the Senate Democratic majority and the White House have made it our mission to support and revitalize the small businesses that are the backbone of our local communities.

We’ve been hard at work building economic security for the middle class, putting people back to work, and investing in the American dream.

I know every Senator in this chamber and all Americans have a small business they depend on to get from one day to the next.

For me, one of them is the Midtown Bistro in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an incredible location, run by a very extraordinary family.

Anytime you want a good meal and a warm welcome, you just go on down to Midtown Bistro. That was the dream of restaurant owners Edmund Catnach, Melissa Salazar, and Angel Espinosa – to make folks feel at home, and they do.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, restaurants and small businesses all across America struggled to make ends meet without daily customers or revenue.

Midtown Bistro, like so many family-owned small businesses, looked to the federal government and received a grant to keep things running and fulfill payroll each and every week.

Melissa said without those funds, they would have had to close their doors after a decade of serving the Santa Fe community. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. 

Edmund, Melissa, and Angel’s story is the story of thousands of small business owners who received grant funding from the federal government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We are extremely proud to have secured more than $169 million in Restaurant Revitalization Funds for restaurants like theirs throughout New Mexico.

This chamber must continue supporting the countless small businesses that keep our economy and country moving forward.

Senate Democrats will continue pushing for expanded opportunities for small businesses to access the capital and credit they need to start or expand businesses, which will in turn get more Americans back on the job, and create more opportunities for more successful ventures.

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