One of the biggest questions for the hospitality industry has been whether Congress will reauthorize pandemic unemployment compensation — namely, those $600 weekly checks that have been keeping out-of-work Americans afloat during the steepest economic downturn since the Great Depression. The policy is vital to COVID-19-battered New York City, where bars and restaurants remain limited to takeout or delivery, and where social- distancing mandates will prompt those institutions to operate with fewer staffers when they reopen this summer.

Millions of