South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is vowing to protect Chick-fil-A’s right to remain closed on Sundays – even going as far as to declare “war” on a proposed New York bill that would force restaurants located on the thruway to remain open every day of the week.
For decades, Chick-fil-A, a fast-food restaurant known for its chicken, has operated under the policy of remaining closed on Sundays due to the founder’s Christian beliefs.
But now, a bill proposed by the New York Assembly to expand food options for motorists on the thruway threatens the future of that.
“This is war,” Mr Graham wrote on X in response to a news story about the potential legislation.
The Republican congressman said that, should the proposed legislation pass, he would counter-introduce legislation that would withhold federal funding to cities that require Chick-fil-A to remain open on Sunday.
Though the proposed legislation would not force Chick-fil-A’s currently located on the thruway to open on Sundays, it would no longer allow the fast-food restaurant chain to open new locations unless it changes its policy.
“The founders of Chick-fil-A made a decision early on to close on Sunday, consistent with their faith. For any government to try to reverse this decision flies in the face of who we are as Americans,” Mr Graham wrote.
“Chick-fil-A is a great company with thousands of locations serving the public with a quality product and taking care of their employees. New York is off base and their actions will not go unanswered,” he added.
The bill, sponsored by New York Assemblyman Tony Simone, says that 27 service areas along the New York thruway are currently being rebuilt. Two years ago, the Thruway Authority engaged Applegreen, an Irish convenience store chain, to take over the lease of the service areas.
Since then, seven Chick-fil-As have opened but, for one day a week, they are inoperable.
“While there is nothing objectionable about a fast food restaurant closing on a particular day of the week, service areas dedicated to travelers is an inappropriate location for such a restaurant,” the bill’s justification says.
“Publicly owned service areas should use their space to maximally benefit the public. Allowing for retail spaces to go unused one-seventh of the week or more is a disservice and unnecessary inconvenience to travelers,” it adds.
Mr Simone told SpectrumNews1 that the legislation came in response to consumers complaining about closures on the thruway.
“Folks are driving. We’ve gotten complaints from people that McDonald’s had a long line, the healthy store was closed, Chick-fil-A was closed because of it being Sunday and Sunday’s a busy time,” he said.
He added that the bill will not impact restaurants currently operating.
Despite this, Mr Graham has launched a passionate campaign to keep Chick-fil-A closed on Sundays, claiming Democrats are trying to “force” it to remain open.
The Independent has reached out to Chick-fil-A for comment.
