U.S. Congress passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the government through September but did not include any direct relief for gyms in the bill, according to IHRSA, the trade association for commercial health clubs. The House passed the bill on March 9 and the Senate passed it on March 10. The president is expected to sign the bill next week.
A $15.6 billion pandemic aid package that originally had been included in the bill was dropped after the cost caused some representatives to voice opposition to it.
The bill also does not reinstate the Employee Retention Tax Credit for the fourth quarter of 2021.
The possibility that any additional federal funding bills will pass prior to summer is low, according to IHRSA. Because 2022 is an election year, members of Congress typically leave Washington, DC, for the summer to campaign for re-election in their home districts.
The National Health and Fitness Alliance, a group formed by IHRSA, had been working with IHRSA and other groups to lobby for relief for the fitness industry from the impacts that temporary shutdowns had on gyms during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the restrictions in 2020-2021. The group had been lobbying for passage of the GYMS Act.
“Despite broad bipartisan and bicameral support, Congress has once again left our industry, which has been disproportionately affected by government mandates, without federal relief,” IHRSA Executive Director Liz Clark wrote on her LinkedIn page. “The small business owners and millions of employees we represent have faced devastating losses since the beginning of the pandemic and allowing them to continue to drown is dereliction of duty by our elected officials. As a result, they've continued to put the health of Americans on the back burner and perpetuated the devastating economic impacts of this pandemic on local studio or gym owners.”
Because COVID-19 cases are declining, Congress members’ interest in relief to organizations that suffered from it has waned, IHRSA said. However, the association “will continue to look for alternative avenues for relief.” That includes increasing advocacy efforts for the PHIT Act.
During the past two years, the industry has come together and established stronger advocacy roots in Congress because of lobbying efforts, IHRSA said. “Nevertheless, our industry has a lot to be proud of,” Clark wrote. “We stood together in an unprecedented way, and despite Congressional inaction suggesting otherwise, we know the essential role we play in communities all across the country. And we'll continue to prove them wrong in the weeks, months and years to come.”