Coronavirus: LA expected to receive millions from Congress' relief bill to aid low-income, homeless and city operations
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Some of the $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems has been earmarked for California, with money approved to help communities across the Southland that have been plagued by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Senate passed the mammoth measure late Wednesday, an unprecedented response amid record new jobless claims and mounting evidence that the economy is in a recession.
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Locally, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti hopes the relief bill - which is currently a draft of the stimulus package and is making its way through Congress - will provide the city with about $400 million to assist Los Angeles International Airport operations, $700 million for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, "tens of millions'' in local assistance for areas with low-income residents and $32 million in emergency homeless assistance.
During his new conference Wednesday, Garcetti said the worst is still ahead, warning that L.A. could be six to 12 days from seeing similar numbers to that of New York City - which has been dubbed by healthcare professionals as the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak.
"What some are calling a stimulus package - but I hardly can look at this as a stimulus package - it's a survival package. An economic survival package for workers, for families, for businesses, for all of us," Garcetti said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom estimates California would receive more than $10 billion in a bloc grant. Roughly half of that money would go directly to the state, with the rest split between counties and cities.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
