WASHINGTON – Wednesday, Congressional Democrats proposed to add $125 billion in coronavirus aid for working families to tack onto President Trump’s recent $250 billion request for small businesses.

On top of that, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says they want another $150 billion for state and local governments and another $100 billion to go to hospitals to provide testing supplies and protective equipment like masks and gowns, all of which could pass this week.

One Southern California lawmaker, Representative Harley Rouda, of Newport Beach, said health officials have been constantly reaching out to him for just that. Rouda said health officials around his area on the coast of Orange County have reached out to his office every day with concerns for not having enough protective gear.

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He said because he felt the call wasn’t being answered fast enough by the White House, he decided to take it upon himself and his office to find a solution. 

Friday, Rouda made a special delivery to MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley. He showed up with thousands of gloves, hundreds of face masks, respirators, and other equipment to help healthcare workers and patients.

He said he had been hearing continuous “desperate pleas” for gear. Rouda said he reached out and created two forms on his website to ask what people needed and what they had to offer and said he was delighted to see dozens of individuals and companies reach out to help. 

“We decided to take matters into our own hands,” Rouda said. “So we just simply set up on our website for a place and had two forms and one form said, 'What do you need,' and marked the boxes and another form said 'What do you have,' and marked the boxes. And basically we married those two together.”

It’s something, he said, that could be a recurring situation. 

“Whether we need to continue this will really depend on whether the federal government will step in and do the role they should have been doing all along from this administration, which is coordinating the efforts of PPEs across the nation and as long as there are gaps to fill, we will do our best to try and fill them,” Rouda said.

On top of that delivery, Rouda joined his Democratic OC colleagues to send a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, urging them to help get supplies to the front lines of the crisis.

Rouda is now also leading the sending of a bipartisan letter to request protective equipment for childcare providers who are caring for the children of first responders, health care workers, and other essential workers. 

He said the idea of childcare for health care professionals had “fallen through the cracks” when lawmakers created the first three coronavirus bills and said health care workers have told him about stories where they have to sleep in tents or donated mobile homes in the driveway just to keep their families safe.

He said these workers shouldn’t have to live so uncomfortably in their own homes. He said though the letter to DHS and HHS that these departments should help provide personal protective equipment to childcare providers so caretakers can help health care professionals without professionals having to worry about their children.