Congress last week gave final passage to a government spending bill that authorized – and funded – the government to keep operating through the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, 2022. In the process however, it seemingly killed any hope of replenishing the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) for the foreseeable future. President Biden signed the $1.5 trillion bill, which also included significant resources for Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself from the Russian invasion, into law earlier this week. The RRF had previously been funded to the tune of $28 plus billion to aid restaurants trying to recover from government-mandated coronavirus shutdowns that so thoroughly devastated the industry. RRF, initially created and funded as part of the American Rescue Plan Act back in March of last year, exhausted all of its funds shortly after it opened to applicants. Since that time, a number of bipartisan Senators – notably Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Roger Wicker, Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship – have co-sponsored legislation to replenish the fund at various amounts. With the funding bill now signed into law, the Senate may look to pass a RRF Replenishment bill on its own, but the likelihood of that effort succeeding is considered small.