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Soon after President Trump first uttered the phrase "Chinese virus," Representative Grace Meng got a call from her parents, who had read about it in the newspaper. Had Mr. Trump, they wondered, really given the coronavirus that corrosive moniker?

Yes, she told them, indeed he had. And no, despite being a member of Congress and her parents' continued pleas, there was nothing she could do to make him stop.

A Queens lawmaker recently introduced a resolution in Congress following the increase in hate crimes and anti-Asian rhetoric surrounding COVID-19.

Congresswoman Grace Meng's resolution recognized that public officials and law enforcement had the responsibility to "condemn and denounce any and all anti-Asian sentiment in any form." According to Meng's office, a recent study revealed that between February 9, 2020, and March, 7 2020, there were more than 400 reported cases of anti-Asian discrimination related to COVID-19 in the United States.

(CNN) Rep. Grace Meng described feeling powerless when she received a call on Friday from a nurse begging for more medical support at Elmhurst hospital in Queens -- one of the hospitals reeling from the virus' rapid spread in the state.

"I got this call at about the same time that we were on or near the floor of the House debating this bill, getting ready to vote on this bill," the New York Democrat told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday, referencing the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package the chamber had passed earlier Friday.