L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti ‘Ecstatic’ After $1.35 Billion Windfall from ‘COVID Relief’ Bill

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti described himself as “ecstatic” over the $1.35 billion that the city will receive from the $1.9 trillion “COVID relief” bill passed by Congress on Wednesday and set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Coronavirus relief bills have been enacted repeatedly for a year, mostly by President Donald Trump, and often after delays by Democrats, who were reluctant to see Trump take any political credit. The new bill, however, includes payments to cities and states, as well as pension bailouts for unions, and money devoted to long-term “progressive” Democratic Party policies.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday:

L.A.’s political leaders have been buffeted by bad budget news since the outbreak of COVID-19 — business shutdowns, plummeting tax revenues, a hollowed-out tourism sector and a financial gap that has steadily grown to $750 million.

On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city leaders received an unmistakably positive sign of a turnaround, with passage of a massive federal relief package that’s expected to send $1.35 billion directly to Los Angeles.

Garcetti said this week that he was “ecstatic” about the relief bill, predicting it will help the city cover coronavirus expenses, pay off key debts and rebuild government operations that were diminished during the pandemic.

…

The legislation is expected to provide $306 million to San Diego, $192 million to Oakland and $223 million to San Jose, according to one analysis of the bill. Los Angeles County is in line to receive more than $1.9 billion.

As Breitbart News and others reported earlier this week, the “COVID relief” bill also bailed out most of San Francisco’s budget $650 million budget deficit for the next two years. It also provided $86 billion in union pension bailouts — without any conditions for reform.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.