A Wisconsin group is suing the Biden administration on behalf of a Tennessee business owner, claiming that it is giving preference to women and minority-owned restaurants and bars for COVID relief funds – adding that white men Is being “pushed behind the line” for assistance, according to a report.
The lawsuit, named Isabella Cassilus Guzman, administrator of the Small Business Association, filed for Antonio Vitolo, who owns Jake’s Bar and Grill in Harman, Tenn. Fox 17 reported in Nashville.
It was filed in federal court in Tennessee by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty and targets the $ 28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which is application processing only from “priority groups” – women, the elderly, or “socially and economically” Person deprived of “- between 3 May and 24 May.
After that period, wide eligibility for assistance opens.
Vitolo said he applied for COVID assistance on May 3, but was told he did not qualify because he is white, the suit says.
It claims the differences are unconstitutional and asks the administration to withhold payments until a similar system is in place to distribute them, such as first come, first serve.
“Given the limited pot of money, it puts white male applicants at significant risk, money will run until their applications are processed,” the lawsuit states.
Vitolo’s wife, who is Hispanic and owns half the restaurant, is not eligible under the rules because a business requires 51 percent ownership by an individual in “priority groups” to receive assistance.
“I don’t want special treatment. I just want to be treated equally under the law. I am opposed to race and sexual discrimination, and I hope that my government will follow the same principle, ”Vitolo said in a press release from the group.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has sued the Biden administration on behalf of white Midwestern farmers over its COVID loan waiver program that prioritizes black farmers.
The SBA announced this week that it began distributing payments to more than 16,000 applicants.
The Biden administration has said that more than 186,200 eligible businesses applied for financial help in the first two days of the program.
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