Over the last several weeks, my team and I have heard from all corners of our community. Families are concerned about their loved ones, especially older members of our community, contracting the virus and having no means to get tested. Mushroom growers are worried about crops they can’t sell because restaurants are closed. Seniors on a fixed income are worried about the health of their retirement accounts, watching their carefully made plans crash with the stock market. Small businesses are asking landlords for forbearance on rent, and landlords are wondering whether banks will understand when it comes time for them to pay the mortgage. Nonprofits are wondering how they will continue delivering services if donations slow down while money is tight. Self-employed and contract workers are wondering if there will be any support for them as demand for their work dries up. And the list grows every time our phones ring.

Like many Americans, I watched (from home) on Monday as the President assured the American people that he and his team were addressing the desperate shortage of critical supplies, like the masks, gloves and gowns used in our hospitals, as well as the supplies necessary to test for COVID-19. He has blamed the Governors, he has blamed the previous Administration — he has blamed everybody except for the man in charge of leading the country — himself.

I sat in disbelief at the words coming from his mouth. Where are these masks and critical materials he says have been sent to our community? I’ve spent the last several days trying to help local leaders connect with suppliers and manufacturers of these critical materials, both in the U.S. and overseas, because we believe this is the only way to get what we need fast enough to make any difference. Minutes and hours matter, and it’s clear we cannot depend on the Administration to deliver for Pennsylvanians.

One way that the President says his Administration is addressing this crisis is by releasing personal protective equipment (PPE) from the Strategic National Stockpile. I’m new to Congress, and initially I thought this was a great idea until I learned that the President’s shipment to my community included expired masks with failing elastic, and far too little of anything to make a substantial difference should the worst case scenario of community spread occur. As a former Chief Operating Officer, who used to manage logistics and supply chains, the idea that you would leave faulty product on the warehouse shelves hoping no one ever needed it is inexplicable to me. The abject failure to secure and maintain supplies for our health care workers and first responders rests squarely with this Administration and this President.

One thing is clear: as shelter-in-place orders spread across Pennsylvania’s counties, none of us can wait for partisan politics to play out in Washington. Not those who are already sick, not the small business owners, not the food service and retail employees, and certainly not the frontline health care workers who are wearing bandanas over their faces to conserve PPE.

We have already seen how legislative efforts to address this crisis — like the small business loan program — take weeks to implement. We will be dealing with the health and economic impacts of this crisis for months, or even years, and absent decisive action now, it will take even longer for people to recover.

I believe that we can come together around commonsense ideas that address our country’s urgent health and economic needs, like the ones the New Democrat Coalition, a pro-business group of Democrats I help lead in Congress, recently put forward. These include: increased testing sites to make testing safer and more accessible; delivery of PPE that is actually safe and effective to our health care workers on the front lines; relief to our small- and medium-sized business owners to keep their businesses afloat — these businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we cannot desert them; and, support for workers across the Commonwealth who don’t know when or if their next paycheck is coming. None of these ideas are revolutionary. They are practical, pragmatic, and necessary measures that should have happened yesterday.

I’m not looking to bail out corporations without any protections for workers or consumers. I’m not trying to restructure our entire economy to favor progressive priorities. I’m not here to create a wish-list of pie-in-the-sky proposals. I’m here, and frankly, we all should be, to get stuff done for Americans who desperately need relief.

We don’t have the luxury of time to continue to debate these priorities, nor is this an appropriate time for either side to insist, it’s my way or the highway. I’m urging our leaders — in the Executive Branch, Senate, and House, Republican and Democrat alike — to identify the areas of compromise (I’ve noted a few above) and move a bill forward right now. I’m ready to vote. Time is of the essence. Just ask an ER doctor suiting up for a shift tonight or the small business owner handing her employees pink slips this afternoon.