{"id":14410,"date":"2025-06-25T20:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14410\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T20:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T20:22:10","slug":"houston-chefs-restaurateurs-join-nationwide-fight-against-reconciliation-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14410\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston chefs, restaurateurs join nationwide fight against reconciliation bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Several<a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/\"> Houston-area<\/a> chefs and restaurant owners have added their names to a national letter urging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/US_Congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/US_Congress\/\">Congress<\/a> to reject a budget reconciliation bill they say would severely harm independent restaurants, their workers, and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The letter, organized by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/James_Beard_Award\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/James_Beard_Award\/\">James Beard Foundation<\/a>, was sent this week to members of Congress on behalf of more than 300 chefs, restaurant owners, and industry professionals from across the country.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Among the Houston-area names supporting the letter are Chester Chambers of Cornrow HTX, Shawn Gawle of Camaraderie, Anita Jaisinghani of Pondicheri, Jailyn Marcel of The Franky Collective, Nina Quincy of Rex Hospitality, Felipe Riccio of Goodnight Hospitality, Sandra Stone of SLS Design Arts, Kiran Verma of Kiran\u2019s, and Ryan Grimes of Knives in Water in Sugar Land.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The letter warns that if passed, the legislation would create lasting challenges for independent restaurants already dealing with rising costs, workforce shortages, and the ongoing effects of climate change.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In it, they call on lawmakers to oppose the legislation, which has already passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In its current form, the bill would eliminate funding for climate programs, cut Medicaid access, reduce SNAP benefits, and include a \u201cNo Tax on Tips\u201d provision that advocates say would leave behind the majority of hospitality workers, including dishwashers, porters, and line cooks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cFrom gutting critical climate programs to threatening the health care access of our workforce, this bill is a direct threat to the backbone of our industry and food system\u2014our workers, our farms, and our communities,\u201d said Clare Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Independent restaurants collectively employ 3 percent of the U.S. workforce and contribute more than $209 billion in annual revenue, according to the foundation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThis bill will harm our industry and the people and communities we serve every day,\u201d the letter states. \u201cIt is deeply out of step with the values of our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/stories\/congress-budget-cuts-chef-advocacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.jamesbeard.org\/stories\/congress-budget-cuts-chef-advocacy\"><b>You can read more here.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several Houston-area chefs and restaurant owners have added their names to a national letter urging Congress to reject&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[14849,14851,327,4345,14850,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-14410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-budget-reconciliation-bill","9":"tag-clare-reichenbach","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-james-beard-foundation","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114745871115413801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}