Strip Club Owners Sue for Coronavirus Stimulus Loans

The federal government is being sued by strip clubs and lobbyists after their inability to gain access to coronavirus stimulus money. Throughout three separate lawsuits, the owners of Little Darling strip club in Flint, Michigan, and Silk Exotic Gentlemen's Clubs in Milwaukee and Middleton, Wisconsin, claim they were unable to receive money from the package because of what type of business they run. This now accuses the stimulus law of infringing on their free speech along with other constitutional rights.

The strip clubs have lawsuits against the US Small Business Administration because they have applied for but can't seem to retrieve any loans under the $2 trillion financial relief bill which was passed by Congress in March. "Covid-19 is not just ravaging the health of Americans, it is also ravaging the Nation's economy," the American Association of Political Consultants and Ridder/Braden Inc. wrote against the Small Business Administration according to CNN. "The government does not have a legitimate interest during this global pandemic in preventing small businesses from obtaining much needed cash to cover payroll and health insurance for their employees just because these small businesses exercise fundamental constitutional rights."

While small business across the United States are eligible for up to $10 million dollars each through the loan program, it appears as though some business, like strip clubs and a few non-profits are having a hard time getting their hands on any of the cash. Both strip clubs who were forced to shut down in March following the stay-at-home orders, say they applied for SBA loans but were denied. Their fear is that if they were allowed to get some funding on down the road, by the time they may be approved, it will be too late because the money will have run out.

In the midst of the pandemic, millions of Americans are already receiving their stimulus checks in the amount of $1,200, but some are receiving much more. Higher earning citizens that exceed $1 million annually, are getting payouts of $1.7 million. But with these handouts come complications. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seemingly suffered problems on their website following the first push of payments. The issues started after they launched two new tools to assist in the rollout of checks: the "Non-Filters: Enter Your Payment Info Here" tool and the "Get My Payment" tool. These issues began Wednesday morning, as some users even started their process the night before.