Ernst calls for public presidential campaign funds to go to masks, protective equipment

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on Friday called for the federal government to use more than $350 million in the mostly dormant public presidential election fund to pay for masks and other equipment needed by health care workers battling the coronavirus.

“Right now there’s more than $350 million in unused cash sitting around in the obsolete and outdated presidential election campaign fund. This is simple. We should immediately move that money to where it’s critically needed,” Ernst said.

“Let’s put it toward more masks and personal protective equipment for the health care workers who are on the front lines of this pandemic,” she said.

Ernst has introduced a bill that would immediately provide more than $357 million to purchase specialized face masks and other protective equipment for doctors, nurses and first responders.

The legislation would redirect money from the presidential election campaign fund to the Department of Health and Human Services’s strategic national stockpile.

Health care providers around the country have faced shortages of masks and other protective equipment in large part because of supply chain disruptions in China.

Senior administration health officials alerted senators last week to potential problems in obtaining protective and medical equipment during a briefing in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee room last week.

Taxpayer contributions to the presidential election campaign fund have steadily trended downward since the early 1980s as the amount of private money flowing into campaign coffers has jumped.

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was the last major party nominee to accept public financing in the 2008 presidential election. In the 2016 presidential campaign, President Trump and Hillary Clinton opted out of the public financing system.