Sen. Joni Ernst Joni Kay ErnstMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day To honor Justice Ginsburg's legacy, Biden should consider Michelle Obama The Memo: Court battle explodes across tense election landscape MORE (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“Right now there’s more than $350 million in unused cash sitting around in the obsolete and outdated presidential election campaign fund.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.

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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 John Sidney McCainMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day McConnell urges GOP senators to 'keep your powder dry' on Supreme Court vacancy McSally says current Senate should vote on Trump nominee MORE (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 Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE opted out of the public financing system.